Legend of Zelda: Dragon's Roar
by draconichero21
Summary: Princess Zelda is captured by Ganondorf who has revived the abominable Chaos Dragon Giganolais. As her newly appointed personal knight it is Link's duty to rescue her as he ventures to restore power to the Dragonforce sword to slay Giganolais and realize his destiny as the Hero of Fate. Rated M for flirtatious behavior and other adult themes.
1. The Dragon Festival Part 1

**(A/N: So I had this little ditty in my head and I just needed to write it out. This is a test regarding a part of my original novel that draws its inspiration from the Legend of Zelda series. This series is intended to give me the opportunity to try my own hand at a Legend of Zelda original idea and see what you, the fandom, think. Please note that until I am finished with my fanfic Soul Chess, that you will only find this initial chapter for the fanfic. I am only posting this chapter so that I can see if you, the fandom, like this idea or if I, once I finish Soul Chess, should abandon it based on feedback I am receiving. I'm also going to cultivate Link the way I perceive him. Now the way any particular fan can perceive Link varies from person to person, so I'm going to go with how I perceive him going from what we fans have seen in dialogue choices and the things Link has been forced to endure in so many incarnations in general. Also, this is revolving around a "young adult" Link somewhere between the age of 18-25, but what age I will remain ambiguous about in universe to let you fans decide for yourself. So, I'm…blathering, here's the pilot chapter to the Legend of Zelda: Dragon's Roar).**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda universe or characters. I am just a fan.

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><p><strong>(Cue the main Legend of Zelda theme and let it play in your head a little bit before reading)<strong>

It was an average day in the Hyrule's marketplace. It was a few hours before noon and Link was just waking up. Of course, his manner of coming out of the land of dreams was anything, but typical.

Link rolled around in his bed sheets and eventually rolled over so much to one side that he fell out of bed and onto the floor, snapping away and expressing his pain with a grunt. A little sore, he got up and rubbed the back of his neck before proceeding to get dressed into his knight's uniform: green tunic, white pants, brown leather boots, long green cap, and equipped his shield and sword. He used the standard steel shield, bearing the Hylian crest, and masterfully crafted, steel sword used by the rest of the knights. Link was a lieutenant in the Royal Army under his captain: Impa.

Impa was a woman twenty years Link's senior. She had tan skin and short blonde hair with a braid that came down along the right side of her face. She had violet eyes, was very tall, was slim, had a nice rack, and wore a blue uniform similar to Link's green one, signifying her as a captain. Of course, unlike Link, she didn't wear a hat.

In fact, Link's hat was a present, hand sewn by his lifelong friend, the princess herself, Zelda. Link and Zelda had gone to the same school in Hyrule together. Link may have been an orphan, having been left in front of the orphanage in town when he was just a baby, but he was very capable as a young child. Originally, like many others, he avoided Zelda, afraid to approach her because of her regal appearance and status. However, it was when Link was only seven that he and Zelda became close and had been the best of friends since.

During the second grade, Link and Zelda's teacher had taken the class out to Hyrule Field for a picnic. During the picnic, the class was set upon by a small band of bokoblin thieves. The teacher began corralling the students together to leave the picnic and run. However, Zelda had been too paralyzed with fear to move. Noticing this, the teacher had tried to go and help her, but it was then he, and the other students noticed that Link was missing too.

Acting on pure instinct, Link charged back towards Zelda and the oncoming bokoblins. He grabbed Zelda by the hand and managed to lead her towards a tree that was a little far away from the rest of the students. Link had gone over there to snap a branch off one of the trees and ripped off the attached twigs before using said branch to bash away the bokoblins. Given their cowardly nature, the bestial creatures were not about to deal with prey that could fight back, not without a dark master pulling the strings on the other side of Hyrule's lands. They fled, leaving the picnic, Zelda and Link's class, relatively unharmed. Only a few sandwiches had been consumed and the blanket and basket had been beaten up, but other than and the shock still coursing through everyone's veins it was like nothing had happened.

"My hero," Zelda had said to Link, giving him a peck on the cheek. Link merely smiled and rubbed the back of his head in gratitude.

Since then Link and Zelda had been thicker than water together. It was like they were a regular couple. However, it was after their education that their cutesy, lovey-dovey relationship slowly drifted apart back to being just good friends. Zelda remained in the castle as she sat in on political meetings and learned how to be a lady of the court, while Link did his best to find a job.

The boy tried a little bit of everything during his teen years including, but not limited to: blacksmith's apprentice, delivery boy, storeroom keeper, and even tried his hand on the ranch near the castle town. Each and every one of his jobs ended in a bit of a disaster, which allowed Link to realize that they weren't for him.

While down on his luck, using part of his most recent paycheck to buy some bread, Link sat outside the town grounds looking over the horizon and enjoying the view. During his lunch consumption, he saw a dust cloud coming up the road. As it neared, Link recognized it was a bull from the ranch with the ranch's owner frantically chasing after it, not that Link could see that much.

Once again, that same instinct that had taken over him when he was a boy took over him again. Using only the shield he carried with him that he had made during his smithing days, since only knights and guards were permitted to carry bladed weapons, Link charged to meet the bull head on. Bracing himself behind his shield the bull impacted its horns into the metal and, pushing back, Link managed to slow its charge. Link was pushed back along the ground until the bull pushed him near a rock and Link picked up said rock and whacked the bull over the head with it. The blow knocked it unconscious.

The entire ordeal had been witnessed by Commandant Bastion, the leader of the royal army. Bastion was a strong man with massive girth, due to his immense upper body muscle mass, though this was impossible to see over his finely crafted silver colored, steel armor. Bastion had short black hair and a short mustache, the hairs of which growing along the sides of his philtrum. Bastion had brown eyes, an eyepatch over his left eye and carried a large two-handed sword with the blade made of stone, chiseled and worked in order to have a sharp edge, and stood at 76 inches tall. Upon recognizing Link's name, from Zelda's stories, he invited Link into the knight's academy where Link spent several years in training and came out of the academy as a lieutenant of the Impa Brigade.

Out of all the brigades under Commandant Bastion, the Impa Brigade was the most important. They were the small group in charge of Princess Zelda's immediate care and welfare. Link shared his position under Impa with three other well trained knights: Atticus, Botor, and Camilia.

Atticus had a mustache like the commandant's stood almost as tall as Link and carried a short sword and rounded shield. He had flat black hair and a hooked chin with large lips. Every knight was given the option to wear either a cloth uniform with chainmail, like Impa and Link, or armor and cloth underneath, like Atticus and Botor.

Botor, speaking of which, was a short man with dark brown hair and carried a long spear rather than a sword and shield. He was a little pudgy in some places and yet still was capable of doing his Knightly duty like anyone else.

Camilia was the only officer in the Impa Brigade. She was also the only officer that had less experience in the brigade than Link. She had been transferred over to the brigade after the pleading and begging with her former captain to be in Impa's brigade. Camilia was a big fan of Princess Zelda, though fan didn't exactly describe the level of enthusiasm she put into making sure all of the Princesses needs were tended to. Often enough she'd given Link a glare or two to take any volunteer work from him to Zelda unto herself. Camilia had tangerine hair that she wore back in a ponytail. She had emerald eyes and, like Link and Impa, wore the chainmail style uniform. She was also the only member of the Impa Brigade that had to work her way up the ladder from the bottom rung. Instead of going into the Knight Academy, Camilia had started as a lowly assistant to her father, a high ranking soldier, and was eventually appointed to be a squire and continued to climb ranks until she was allowed to be a soldier herself, completely of her own will. She was also the only member of the Impa Brigade that came from a higher class family. Atticus, Botor and Link were all common folk, as was Impa herself, but was often treated as higher class due to her long history at Zelda's side as a caretaker.

Link had been stationed in Impa's brigade right out of academy graduation at Impa's request no less. She knew Link from his and Zelda's school days and upon hearing he was a certified knight she took him under her wing, knowing that would make Zelda happy. Of course, that didn't mean Link was allowed any leeway in shirking his knightly duties either just because he was favored by Zelda, Impa still rubbed him into the ground like any of her other brigade members and lieutenants.

Dressed and equipped, Link walked through the marketplace waving to the folks that knew him. Many were old bosses of his or townsfolk he had helped either as an academy student, a knight, or out of the goodness of his heart. Impa would often say that Link was a Hero to Hyrule. He was a model knight and while it inspired many around him, others were sometimes jealous of what his good nature brought him in terms of favor with Zelda.

Of course these belonged to the unenlightened masses. As a knight, it was uncouth, immoral, and when Zelda would come of age, illegal, for Link and Zelda to have an intimate relationship with one another. Zelda was reaching that age in her life where her father would have to pick a prince from the other royal lands, or the noble houses, to wed Zelda to. Link, as a commoner, would be either castrated or beheaded for having such a relationship with Zelda.

However, though Link's opinions on the matter were relatively unknown, Zelda wished it were not so. She cherished Link; he was the only true friend she had. In her educational years the other students were afraid to approach her unless she approached them. Until the picnic incident Link was the same way. As a knight to her guard, Link's interactions with Zelda were more professional than they were personal and Link never seemed to try anything funny of his own accord, though sometimes Zelda wished he would or that she would have the courage to make such a request of him. She had been taught to do what was right for the kingdom and on that moral grounding she would do her best to stand upon. Nevertheless she yearned for that close relationship that she and Link once had now that she knew, thanks to her own gained knowledge from the many books in the royal library, the true value of a very close relationship.

Currently Zelda was in the theater house, currently empty, practicing her song for today's festival. A festival, of which, Zelda believed that her day of opportunity would finally come. Today was the Hylian Dragon Festival. It was a celebration of the eight dragons that kept the harmony of the elements that controlled Hyrule's lands intact.

Argant, the red dragon of fire, was known for his unparalleled courage and fierce determination in relation to all of dragon kind. He was always attributed with Hyrule's vast mountain ranges and volcanoes. Typhoon, the blue water dragon, was attributed with Hyrule's seas, known for his vast wisdom. Hurricane ruled the skies of Hyrule as he was the gray dragon of the wind. He was known for his great loyalty as the fairy kingdom drifted high above the clouds and Hurricane was considered their guardian. Whiplash, the white dragon of ice, was known for his trickery and quick wit. He ruled the northern snowy wastelands. Emerald, one of the more powerful dragons, the green dragon of earth, was responsible for the canyons, the dirt the soil, all of the ground that did not fall under Argant's territory. Emerald was known for his great strength and endurance. It was fabled that when the planet was an itty bitty planetoid that Emerald used to carry it on his back. Valg was the yellow dragon of lightning. He controlled Hyrule's storms and known for his quick temper and his cautious ways. Maldor, the bronze dragon of light was fabled to bring Hyrule the sun every morning and give the ability for all creatures to be able to see. He was known for his righteousness and grace and was very slow to anger. He always spoke softly and calmly, but it hid his immense power well. The final dragon, Shadow, was the black dragon of Darkness. However, much unlike the evil Bokoblins, Moblins and other foul demonic hellspawn that ran about Hyrule, Shadow was a benevolent creature, bringing the Night and serenity to Hyrule. He was known for his remarkable way of, despite controlling the shadows, which normally hide the truth, seeking the truth and being able to reveal it through the fear that he struck into those that would abuse his element when he showed his presence. Much like Maldor, no living being wanted to see Shadow's Temper.

The festival was celebrated once a year, but on some years, weeks before the festival, strange weather patterns would be noted by the other tribes throughout Hyrule's lands and reported to the King. This was the sign of the special festival: The rise of the Dragon of Unity.

Once every seventy-five years, a very powerful storm would rage across Hyrule's skies. The storm would be fierce and consist of all of the eight dragons combining their powers to make it happen. Then, after the torrential downpour and the sun finally would peak through, the Dragon of Unity, Yewgmenth, would appear. With his multi-colored, rainbow scales a Yewgmenth would appear in the sky, his scales glistening in the sun, accompanied by a gorgeous rainbow. With a fierce roar Yewgmenth would make his declaration to the people of Hyrule of his magnificent presence and then take a leisurely fly through the sky all day before returning to the other realm where he and the other dragons typically resided.

It was said that those able to see Yewgmenth during his flight throughout the day were promised good fortune in their lives. And this year's festival happened to be one of those years. Of course, besides just Yewgmenth's foretold appearance, the Dragon Festival was meant for knighting graduating knights-in-training and since Zelda was old enough now, she was, this year, to pick her own personal knight and bodyguard. Besides just her royal guard, who gave their lives to protect Zelda and make sure she was safe, Zelda's personal knight was meant as a direct bodyguard, never to leave her side and take her anywhere she wanted as Zelda would be allowed to travel outside of Hyrule's castle and town without permission from the king. It was her coming of age ceremony this festival and Zelda knew exactly who she would knight. Impa too had a pretty good idea of who Zelda would pick: someone who had been at the princess' side for years on end and been her companion for most of her life.

Oblivious to this fact himself, only to Zelda having to pick her knight, not to the festival itself, Link continued forward to the large guarded door that led to the outskirts of the castle courtyard. "Ah, Sir Link," the guard to Link's left addressed him, "Captain Impa was waiting for you in the garden. She wants all of her lieutenants present and accounted for in time for the festival. There is a lot to be done before it starts."

"Absolutely," the knight on the right said, "And, did you hear, this year is supposed to be the rise of the Dragon of Unity."

"No kidding," the knight on the left said, "Well then we've sure got our work cut out for us to make sure that the castle and the courtyard can weather through the storm wouldn't you say?"

"Well I'm sure Commandant Bastion knows what he's doing," Link attested.

"That's certainly true. Commandant Bastion's kept Hyrule intact for the last two generations. We're fine as long as he's in charge of the knights."

"You'd best run along Link," the knight on the right stood to the side, best not keeping Captain Impa waiting.

"Right, see you at the ceremony," Link said and headed inside the large doors to the courtyard where Atticus, Botor, Camilia and Impa were all waiting for him.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Camilia tapped her foot, arms folded, "Just because you are Zelda's favorite doesn't mean you get special privileges. You can't keep us all waiting."

"Settle down Camilia, Link isn't late in the slightest," Impa told her, "In fact with his arrival we can get started a little bit ahead of schedule. As some of you may or may not know, this year's festival is the rise of the Dragon of Unity."

Atticus was blown away by this shocking revelation, "I say, are you serious?"

Impa nodded, "Yes, which means we have to make sure the whole town, and the castle, is ready for the storm to be weathered. Or rather that is most of the army's job today prior to the festival."

"What do we have to do?" Camilia asked.

"Since we are the princess' faithful guard we must make sure she is well protected during the ceremony and that she is in complete preparation to give her part of the ceremony. Atticus," Impa called to him.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Atticus saluted readily.

"I want you to go through the courtyard and make sure check for all potential areas of assassins, heretics, fanatics, monsters, and anything else that could be harmful for the princess from all angles and locations and report to me so that I may readily assign a guard at each location," Impa instructed.

"I say, I will do my best!" Atticus trotted off in his armor to get started.

"Botor, I have a list of things I require to aid my role in the ceremony and the princess herself, as I will be required to stay in the castle and monitor the rest of the brigade, I need you to gather my purchases for me," Impa handed Botor a scroll.

"I will find everything on this scroll and report back to you, my captain," Boccus saluted and began huffing and puffing towards the castle entrance to reach the market.

"What can I do?" Camilia volunteered.

"Well the only thing I have left for now is that, Camilia, the royal pet has gone missing again. Could you track him down?" Impa requested.

"Agh, see this is why wolves don't make good pets. I know Zelda raised him since he was a pup and he imprinted himself on her, but wolves are free spirited animals and belong in wild, not to mention they're vicious and not as high class as a much more regal pet."

"If you're not up to it I can always ask Link to do it. He gets along very well with Lukin," Impa responded.

Lukin, the royal pet, was a wolf from the Ebony Woods that Zelda had found caught in a snare trap howling. The trap was in the castle garden, the cub was far from home and was looking for food, rabbits and the like. The howling had been right outside Zelda's bedroom door. Lukin had white paws, legs and belly, but his back was as black as midnight. Zelda had raised him like a domestic dog since he was small, but that didn't stop him from acting true to his nature, which included killing wildlife and sometimes bringing it to Zelda's bedroom door, though he'd been trained to stop doing such things when he began to grow. Lukin was fully grown now and was bigger than Botor. In fact the poor knight had once had the misfortune of being mistaken for a tree.

Because of his size, Lukin stayed in the courtyard, though he frequently would venture out into Hyrule field by jumping right over the castle walls, into town and out into the wilderness. His reasons varied though he usually did this when he was really hungry, feeling especially adventurous, or just to stir up trouble. The last one was the most frequent.

"What? No!" Camilia cried out, "I can lure Lukin back to the castle _by myself_! I'll do it," she said and then glared at Link, "And I will prove to Zelda once and for all that I am her most faithful and loyal knight." Camilia dashed off towards the northern section of the courtyard.

"Well Link you're in luck. Currently I don't have anything I need done right now," Impa told him, "Although, Zelda's practicing her song for the ceremony in the theater. It's been barricaded right now, but I suppose we do need someone to watch from the inside of the theater. Tell the guards stationed outside to let you in. If Zelda wouldn't mind anyone watch her practice it would be you."

Link smiled in gratitude for the opportunity Impa was giving him. He went off to the theater, relayed Impa's message to the guards and let himself inside. He opened the large door very slowly so as not to disturb Zelda's concentration. As he opened the door he could hear her angelic voice singing the song of the festival. He closed the door very quietly and sat in the back row and listened to Zelda sing for a little while, admiring her voice. Zelda was using a harp to accompany her voice, but she'd have a whole orchestra during the ceremony. The famed princess of Hyrule looked absolutely stunning in her royal dress. It was a stunning garment of white silk with an elongated version of the Hylian crest at the bottom front of the dress. Zelda wore a violet blouse over her dress and white, velvet gloves. Her bright blonde hair cascaded down her back and she had her hair styled the same way she always did with two braids alongside either side of her head, laced up. She was also wearing her royal, gilded tiara. Zelda dressed in a variety of colors on different occasions, but for special ceremonies she was required to wear the traditional royal outfit. Of all her outfits, Link had to admit to himself that Zelda looked the most beautiful in her current state of attire.

Besides listening to Zelda's voice, Link took a look around the Royal Theater. He'd never been in it before. It was very plain for something considered royal. The walls were brown, there were two floors of seats with red velvet seats and the stage was wooden with a curtain behind it to reveal the rest of the stage, currently blank. There were no stained glass windows, no concrete pillars. It was just an expansive, plain looking room.

When Zelda took a break from her singing Link walked down the aisle to where she was onstage. She brightened up the moment she saw him. She descended the stairs along the side of the stage and bounded up to Link giving him her brightest smile as she stood in front of him. "Oh, Link, I wasn't expecting to see you until the ceremony, did Impa ask you to come and check up on me? Or did you just show up to hear me sing?"

Link shrugged with a smile, "A little bit of both."

Zelda laughed joyously, "Thanks that really makes my day, Link." After a few moments of silence she looked up at ceiling at the glass chandelier hanging overhead. "You know, we've never been alone like this since we were in school, you and I."

Link's face went from joyous to a little serious, and somewhat regretful.

"Oh, I didn't mean to upset you," Zelda apologized, seeing Link's expression, "And I'm not blaming you either." She looked to the side with her hand over her chest, seeming a little bit troubled, "Mostly I think it's me," she mumbled.

Link put a comforting hand on Zelda's shoulder and then walked closer to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as if meaning to apologize. Link wasn't good with words. In fact, he preferred to let his actions speak for him most often. He only spoke when body language simply wouldn't cut it.

"You're so sweet Link," Zelda nuzzled a little into him. The two stared at each other for a little bit before Zelda suggested, "Say there's a little bit of time before the ceremony begins, do you want to spend some time together. I know I'm supposed to practice," she put a hand on Link's arm, "but with you at my side, I'm sure I'll be all right. You'd never let me down Link, I know you."

Link smiled, "Sure Zelda, where to?"

Zelda slipped out of Link's hold and grabbed him by the hand around to the backstage area where there was a cover over a trap door that led beneath the stage. Using the appropriate ladder, Zelda and Link climbed down into the passageway underground and used it to navigate through the castle's secret passageways, known only to Zelda, the commandant, the Impa Brigade, and used the passage system to bring Link out into Zelda's personal garden. Besides the main entrance, currently closed and barricaded outside, the only other way into the garden was through the passageway or through one of the windows of the hallways that surrounded it. It wasn't the most private place in the castle, but Zelda came here often because it was quiet.

The garden itself grew many colors of tulips and roses and was surrounded by a shallow moat, about three inches deep, on all sides except for the low rising bridge that lead to the main entrance. Zelda walked up to the window on the opposite side of the main entrance which was the window that peered into the royal chambers and sat down on the stone bench in front of it. She patted the spot next to her inviting Link to come sit down next to her. Link smiled and did so and Zelda then promptly lay her head on his shoulder and put her hands on his leg.

"Could you put your arm around me?" Zelda requested, "Like you used to?" Link obliged, putting his arm around the back of Zelda's shoulders and letting her rest against him. He was reminiscent of how many picnics they had when they were in school, just the two of them. Zelda and Link would frequently sit under a tree in the schoolyard or in the courtyard with Zelda resting her head against Link's shoulder just as she was and Link would have his arm around Zelda's shoulder, letting her comfortably rest against him, just as she was doing now.

From her current position, Zelda wrapped her arms firmly around Link's torso. Link wondered if this was all Zelda intended to do, not that he minded. This was nice. The weather was beautiful, the aroma was heavenly and Zelda…Link was only noticing now how well grown in Zelda had become over the years. Even as part of the Impa Brigade he didn't see her in person as often as he would've liked and after finishing his education he didn't see her very often during those long lonesome years of his life. Link had been so caught up in his knightly duties and practicing his swordplay on off-time that he hadn't had much time left for himself or to notice the change Zelda had gone in what had to be at least seven years.

Link's eyes trailed down Zelda's body. He looked down at her soft, gorgeous blonde hair, her closed eyes concealing her pretty blue irises and her luscious lips, lips still untouched by another. She was bosom was plentiful and had to be extremely soft and tender, but…no, he couldn't. Zelda was practically forbidden fruit now that she was coming of age. He had to learn to grow out of it. She was a princess and he was just an orphan boy. He was her knight, not her betrothed. Still, it was hard to convince himself. He had known Zelda practically all his life. She was special to him. She trusted him with her life. He knew that. It just wasn't fair.

In the cozy warm atmosphere Link, much like Zelda, found it hard to stay awake and both fell asleep. Impa was standing in the middle of the garden when they woke up, surprising Zelda.

"I-Impa," Zelda quickly bolted to her feet, ran out onto the grass and fanned out her dress. "Wh-what are you…h-how did you…?"

"It wasn't easy to figure out, when I didn't find a trace of you or Link in the theater, but found evidence that the curtain to go back stage had been moved, followed by the lack of dust around the trap door, I figured you'd come here," Impa replied.

"How long have you been standing there?" Link asked, getting to his feet and walking towards his captain.

"Long enough," Impa answered. "The ceremony starts in about an hour, I need to prepare Zelda and you should head to the barracks and get some last minute practice in."

Link was confused, "Last minute practice?"

"Oh that's right, I guess I forgot to tell you and the others," Impa brought the side of her hand up by the side of her head and massaged her forehead with her middle finger, shaking her head slightly at her forgetfulness, "Today is Zelda's coming of age ceremony in addition to the Dragon Festival. That means the princess will be choosing one of our own brigade who must then duel into submission the other members of the brigade, that do not think the chosen individual has what it takes, in order to prove his or her skill as Zelda's personal bodyguard. If the chosen bodyguard loses then victor is then challenged by anyone who believes he or she does not have the qualifications. Once someone is defeated though, they are not allowed to try again. The process continues until there is a champion."

"I don't get it, what's the difference between being in your brigade and being Zelda's personal knight?" Link had no idea about this at all.

"Once she's considered an adult by the rest of the world, the princess is allowed to go anywhere and do anything without her father's consent, but she must have a designated bodyguard accompany her wherever she may go. That is the purpose of Zelda's personal knight," Impa told Link. She looked at Zelda, "I trust you have put a lot of thought into your decision."

"Yes," Zelda nodded, "I'll be revealing my decision at the ceremony of course. Not before or after."

"Yes, I understand," Impa smiled, "Link, run along, the princess and I have work to do."

"Yes captain," Link headed off to the barracks where he met up with the other members of the Impa Brigade. He strutted over to Atticus, Botor and Camilia who had become his set group during his time with the brigade. Atticus was polishing his sword, Botor was practicing some thrusts with his spear and Camilia was making sure her shield was up to par with her standards.

Link took a quick look around the room, with the exception of Impa, the person who could possibly give him the most trouble in combat would be Camilia. Amongst the members of the Impa Brigade, Link was well respected by his peers and lower ranked veterans so he really only had to worry about his fellow Lieutenants. Against Atticus, Link had a serious advantage in range. Link's sword was longer than the armored knight who had the shorter sword because he couldn't hold a big one underneath all of his armor.

Against Botor, Link may not have the advantage in range, but he had a significant advantage in speed. Botor was heavily armored, but due to his weight and small stature he was very slow. Link figured he could punt Botor like a ball and then stick his sword in his face and that would be the end of it.

Camilia was another story though. Much like Link she was excellent with a sword and unlike Atticus her sword was the same length as Link's. The only difference between her and Link was that Link was a full year older than Camilia and so had more experience. It would come down a true show of skill and resourcefulness and Link knew that Camilia would not let up against him. She adored Zelda, wanted everything to do with Zelda, she'd come at Link with everything she had if they clashed.

As Link stood around wondering how he should get some practice in, one of the low ranking soldiers bounded up to him. "Hey Link," he said to him, "A couple of the boys wanted to see some of your more impressive techniques out back, can you show us?"

"Sure," Link agreed. Out back there were stacks upon stacks of empty, old wooden boxes, perfect for training. Test dummies became too expensive to keep making since the knights went through them like toilet paper so budget cuts had to be made somewhere.

Link practiced a few of his moves for fellow soldiers like his rapid thrust in which Link would perform several forward thrusts with his sword very quickly, his leaping strike in which he grabbed his sword with both hands, even the one normally holding his shield, and leapt at his opponent. The resulting momentum could sometimes snap a sword clean in half. He also showed off his personal favorite: the spin attack. Link would hold his position and put up his shield to guard himself and then spin in a complete circle, sometimes multiple times, to attack everything around him. He also had a variant he called the Rising Spin Attack in which he basically took to the air and spun as many times in the air as gravity and his momentum would let him before dropping to the ground.

"Awesome moves Link," one of the knights said, "But we were hoping to see your really cool moves like your rolling parry, your helm splitter, and your really awesome rushing strike attack."

The three moves that had been mentioned were definitely some of Link's more impressive techniques, however, for some reason, he wasn't always able to execute them perfectly. It was hard to explain to his fellow knights. For some reason, in certain situations, like his the incident with the bokoblins back when he was seven, a powerful sort of internal force would take hold of Link and he would become one with the battlefield. It was like an adrenaline rush would surge through him. Link didn't know how to explain it since it wasn't any sort of typical adrenaline rush. There had to be real danger involved or else Link was unable to fight at his full potential. Then again, if he did, he'd be fighting with the mindset to use lethal force, a very bad idea when he was only supposed to subdue his target during the ceremony.

Link's brigade buddies weren't too disappointed. Many of them were brand new to the brigade, others had only heard of Link's full potential so they were eager to see the greatness of the nicknamed Hero of Hyrule. However, what all of them, and Link, did not know was that Link would be forced to use his greatest techniques sooner than they thought.

**End of Chapter 1**

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><p><strong>(AN: So not much to say in the ways of plot much this chapter, just a lot of backstory and the details of the Legend. Chapter two, which is part two of this two part pilot, has the rest of the beginning of the adventure. I think you'll enjoy that chapter a little more than you enjoyed this one, or maybe a lot more I don't know. I'll say everything else about this chapter in the ending author's notes for the next one).**


	2. The Dragon Festival Part 2

**(A/N: This is part two of the two part pilot for Legend of Zelda: Dragon's Roar. Enjoy).**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda universe or characters. I am just a fan.

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><p><strong>(Cue the Hyrule Field theme as a leitmotif before for this chapter starts)<strong>

Soon the time of the festival arrived and the opening ceremony was due to take place on the expansive castle courtyard. Not all of the townspeople were expected to attend, but if you were a knight of the royal army, your ass was grass if you didn't attend. Each and every brigade came out and performed a salute and traditional bow to the king before falling in line along the courtyard field. The Impa Brigade was the last to pull their routine, but rather than falling in line with the other brigades they would stay on the field and watch Princess Zelda's perform her song for the entire audience: The Song of the Dragon's Roar.

There was a round of applause from all of the townsfolk and Zelda just smiled and was appreciative of the praise. Camilia, standing next to Link, had her hands clasped together underneath her chin, eyes lit up like the night sky, "Oh Princess Zelda, your voice is the most magnificent sound in all of Hyrule. You're so amazing."

Zelda took a step back from center stage to allow her father, the King, to address his people. "Ladies and gentlemen, citizens, knights, and everything in between, thank you for coming to the Dragon Festival's Opening Ceremony," the King announced, "As some of you may have heard already this year is a special year. This year is one of those special seventy-five years in which the Dragon of Unity graces us with his magnificent presence. The Magic Storm, the grand rampage of all the eight elements upon our fair land, the sign of the arrival of Yewgmenth is destined to happen upon this very day. I encourage you all, when the first sign of the storm approaches to barricade yourselves in your homes and seek shelter. My knights are doing everything they can to make sure that Hyrule is still standing at the end of the storm. Until then we hope you will enjoy the rest of the festival," the king clasped his hands together, "But before that, today is also another special occasion. My daughter, your princess, her ladyship Zelda's coming of age ceremony is also today, which means that today is also the day that Zelda will pick her personal knight. I now ask for all of the Knights of the Impa Brigade to assume the proper position.

The proper position was for Impa's entire brigade to form a large circle around the field, they would be the boundary lines for the event. If a contender crashed into a fellow knight they were out of bounds.

"As this only happens once a generation, allow me to explain the rules. Once my daughter has given the name of her chosen knight, any of the members of the brigade may challenge that knight to steal that position from him. After all I want the best of the best for my little pumpkin. During a clash victory can be claimed by disarming your opponent, knocking them out of bounds or drawing blood. There is no time limit per each struggle. And now, I turn things over to your princess, her ladyship, my daughter Zelda."

There was applause from the stands of citizens as Zelda took center stage again. "Thank you, citizens of Hyrule. It is my honor to give the name of chosen knight. This person has served me well for many, many years, been my closest companion and my only friend. I would like to introduce to you my personal knight, the nicknamed Hero of Hyrule, Sir Link!"

The stands were in joyous uproar. The commoners were in good spirits, many of them believed that Zelda was right in selecting Link. He was the noblest of Knights and at the wee age of seven risked his own life for her. Every housewife in Hyrule knew that tale.

Of course, as expected, Link had competitors. Camilia herself was in shock and Impa was slightly disappointed. Just because she led her brigade did not mean that she was not a legitimate choice. She was going to test Zelda's chosen knight, but first she was going to wait and see if anyone else was going to challenge Link first.

As Link walked out into the center of his Brigade, as was required for him, he looked around and saw exactly what he expected. Most of his brigade was stout and motionless in their respect towards him. However, as he also expected, he was going to have to go up against his fellow Lieutenants.

Atticus was the first to challenge him. "I say, if no one else will challenge this man's authority then I shall. En garde!" Atticus drew his sword and shield. Link did the same and he and Atticus began to circle around one another. Link twirled his blade in his hand, Atticus sneered at the blonde lieutenant. A few moments of motionless sizing up and Atticus took the first charge at Link. With his shield Link knocked Atticus off balance by pushing against his sword just as it impacted with his shield and then used his shield to bash Atticus' sword out of his hands. There were cheers all around the stands. Atticus picked up his sword and got back in line.

Botor now attempted to challenge Link's capabilities. "His majesty wants only the best for the princess. I will show her that she chose wrong." Botor said and charged towards Link, but on his stubby little legs, exactly what Link thought would happen, did happen. Botor didn't get very far to Link and the young man rushed towards Botor, kicked him in jaw, not having to bring his foot above waist level and then held his blade at Botor's cheek, but blood was already dripping from his mouth caused by Link's kick. With his beaten in face, Botor walked back in line.

Now over her shock, Camilia walked up to challenge Link. "You don't deserve the princess' companionship. Just because you saved her when you were children? Even I could've done that if I was in your class. Don't look down on me just because I'm a year younger than you Link," Camilia told him and pulled out her sword and shield, "Only one of us is capable of being able to defend Zelda properly and that's me." She aimed her sword at Link. "Have at ye!"

Link and Camilia ran at each other. Their blades crossed. Link swung first so his blade was on top. Their blades slid against each other, pushing back, one trying to gain dominance over the other, but in the end both were forced to abandon their current clash, spin and get each other on the reverse spin. Backs to other, blades clashed against each other, Link and Camilia looked at each other with animosity, both trying to overpower the other. Camilia took a sweeping kick at Link's groin, but Link saw it coming and performed a magnificent back flip and landed one foot, shield forward, sword behind him and in the air.

"Oh, look, look," one of the knights exclaimed, "he's going to do it!"

Tensing up his muscles Link put his other foot firmly on the ground and began spinning forward like a whirlwind towards Camilia, performing his rushing spin attack. The female lieutenant was forced to block Links strikes, letting her shield take the abuse. Upon performing the technique, Link backed off and leaned back. He turned his body and, while Camilia was still reeling put his sword and shield hand on his blade and took a leaping strike at Camilia. Acting on instinct Camilia took a mighty leap back, not knowing how far Link was striking and wound up leaping back right into the knight's behind her. Link hadn't gone more than a few feet, he wouldn't have even reached Camilia. The fearsome swing was a complete psychological factor to play into the flight over fight response upon seeing a quick strike like that coming in.

"Out of bounds!" Zelda declared, "Sir Link wins again!" Zelda stated.

"No! I want a rematch!" Camilia said getting back in the ring.

"Camilia you know the rules, once you lose that's it," Impa told her.

"But ring outs are cheap!" Camilia argued.

"Rules are rules Camilia, if you keep arguing I will suspend you of your duties!" Impa shouted.

"Fine!" Camilia shouted with tears in her eyes. She pushed past Link and ran across the field. She got halfway before turning to look at the lieutenant. "Why do you have to be her favorite, I do almost everything for her. It's not," She turned around covered her arm with her sleeve, "Fair," she mumbled and ran out of line and out of the courtyard.

Link put his equipment away, figuring that was it. He had beaten all three of his companions: Camilia, Atticus and Botor. Victory was…

"Not so fast Link, don't be so quick to relax," Impa said stepping onto the field.

Link turned around to see his captain as she pulled out her dual black-steel katanas. "C-captain…y-you…"

"I'm part of the Impa Brigade you know. After all, I lead it," Impa winked, readying her stance. She stood with her right leg out front, her left leg behind her and her blades crossed in front of her. Her left arm was arched up over her head and she held her right blade up vertically. She exited out of her stance and held her swords at her sides to look at Zelda, "That is acceptable is it not?"

"Ah, yes I suppose so," Zelda said, she hadn't even thought of it. Never before had in Hyrule's history had a brigade captain ever tried to challenge their lower ranked officer on these occasions, most were content, but the rules did specify that any member of the brigade could challenge the chosen knight. That included its leader of course.

"Very good then," Impa said and took her stance. Link stood petrified. "What's the matter Link, scared? Don't be. It's just a friendly spar. A friendly spar that will decide which of us becomes the princess' personal bodyguard, but a spar nonetheless. I'll try not to leave visible marks."

Link was frozen, unsure what to do. Fight Impa? The very idea was ludicrous to him. Impa had more than twenty years of experience on him and even he had heard tales of the fabled Black Blade Guardian. He looked at the stands, the citizens were wondering what he should do. He looked at Zelda. He could see it in her eyes. She really wanted him to be her knight. Against all logic and reasoning Link gave Impa his toughest look and drew his sword and shield.

"Good, I'm glad to know I was right about you Link," Impa stated, "In the fight versus flight response. You always choose," she charged, "fight!"

Impa came rushing at Link like lightning with her head lowered and her swords behind her. As she neared Link she flipped one sword and attacked towards his right flank, his shield arm. She then took a sweeping strike at Link's opposite side, but he blocked with his sword.

"Not bad Link, not bad," Impa told him, "But what will you do now?"

What would he do now? That much was obvious to Link. With his arms pinned down he used his legs and ran his legs up Impa's and pushed against her flat stomach to gain momentum and performed a few backflips to put some distance between the two of them. He then waited for Impa to come in, shield at the ready. Her first strike had taken him by surprise, but this time he'd be prepared. Impa came in fast towards him and this time zig-zagged as she dashed. Link wasn't sure which side to dodge to so he simply waited for Impa to get close and watched her movements. When her weaving became too difficult to predict, Link broke out into a run of his own and, much to Impa's surprise, met him head on. With a fierce cry Link to the sky performing his anti-air spin attack and went sailing over Impa's head. He landed on the ground behind her. Impa took that opportunity to strike, but Link had expected such a tactic, knowing the weak points of his own strikes and forward rolled to get out of Impa's range. He had sheathed his equipment while he was in the air so that he could roll easier along the ground.

Upon getting away from Impa he spun while still crouched on the ground and turned to face her, weapons once again at the ready. Impa was already coming in. Link stood up and met her head on, running alongside Impa's right side so that her swords would meet his shield. Link took a strike at her leg since Impa had attacked him with both of her swords, but she was able to see his strike and blocked down low. Like jumped to the side so that he was behind Impa's right flank and waited for her to come in. Right now countering and letting her make the first move was the only thing he could think to do until he developed a working strategy.

Impa, however, recognized Link's strategy and stood her ground, she would force him to come to her. She flashed a wry smile to signal Link that she had caught onto his tactic. Link scowled upon receiving said signal and took to the offense. However, before making a strike he stopped short in front of Impa forcing her to put her guard up and then circled around her right flank and attacked for real, but Impa was to skilled to fall for such a simple cop-out. She did however, praise Link.

"Nice feint," she told him as she blocked his sword with her right handed blade. Impa thrust forward with her left blade. Link leapt back. She made an overhead swing with her right blade and attacked Link. If he leapt back again he'd end up just like Camilia. If he dodged left Impa could strike him with her other blade. If he dodged right Link could strike to, but Impa had more reach and could get him first. If he blocked, there was a good chance his sword would snap. Backed into a corner, Link only had one option. He used his shield. He waited for Impa's strke to get close and then pushed his shield forward with precise momentum to push her back and knock her off balance. He succeeded. He had an opening. He took it.

However, Impa's reflexes were too quick to be caught from a simple disorienting shield bash block. She crossed her swords over the moment Link made his strike and stopped his blade. "Very good, you're really something lieutenant."

Impa began to push forward, she was about to swing out in a wide arc with both of her blades and catch Link in a full half arc attack. Link did not have enough room to make the necessary backwards leap and if he'd never fully block such an attack and ready himself in time to stop Impa's next strike. What to do? He had to come to a decision and fast. He wracked his brain as quickly as he could for a countermeasure and remembered that Impa's attack was one of the most basic special techniques of dual wielding. Link now knew what to do. As Impa pushed forward readying her attack, Link dropped flat to the ground underneath her and took a risky opportunity to strike at Impa's ankle. He succeeded. It was a shallow cut, having to cut through her boot, pants and chainmail, but he got her and Impa felt it. Link rose to his feet triumphantly and the citizens cheered. Impa smiled at her young lieutenant and put her swords away behind her back in their proper sheathes and then folded her arms.

"You did well Link, I'm proud of you." Link smiled back at his captain as she lifted his sword arm into the air, "People of Hyrule, I give you Princess Zelda's Champion: Sir Link!"

There was plenty of cheering and Link was happy that he had one. Of course, as Impa had mentioned it was a friendly spar. Had it been a duel to the death Link would've been creamed, or would he? After all, unless it was a life or death situation, Link never fought to his fullest potential anyway.

The closing ceremony, making Link Zelda's official knight, would take place after the Magic Storm and Yewgmenth had been spotted. During such a coincidence of both events, to do so was tradition. With the ending of the opening ceremony though, Link was given a celebratory meal by his companions, while Impa sought first aid. Zelda visited her in the infirmary. Impa's injury was shallow and non-crippling, but it was a pretty decent incision into her skin. She'd be fine with a few hours rest; the wound would scab over in no time. In an emergency though, Impa was good to go.

However, the nature of Zelda's visit was not to check on Impa's condition. "You held back against Link, didn't you?"

Impa put her hands behind her head. "You could tell?"

"I know your true capabilities," Zelda told her, "If you had been going at Link with everything you had, he never would've seen your first strike coming."

"I had no intention of stealing his role. It was your decision. My ego should not outmatch my duty."

"But my father said—"

"And that's why I challenged him, going at him with enough force to push him to his limits. Link is a very capable warrior Zelda, I saw that today. You did a good job in choosing him. Besides, you and I both know he is a completely different man in a life or death situation," Impa told her.

"Yes I know," Zelda smiled back.

"You should run along now. You don't need to keep me company. You're a woman now Zelda, you're out of my hands. Consider my battle with Link _his_ coming of age ceremony," Impa winked.

Zelda laughed realizing what Impa meant, "Impa," she giggled and prepared to leave the infirmary, but before she exited out the door smiled and said, "Thanks." She then left.

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><p>Zelda stood atop the roof of the tower in which her bedroom resided. She was looking out over the horizon, waiting to view the first sign of the magic storm. She was surprised when she saw Link's gloved hand placed on the battlement next to her. "Oh, Link, you startled me. Is everything all right?"<p>

"I was just looking for you," Link told her.

"Oh, I see," Zelda scooted over so that Link could stand next to her. "Are you going to wait for the Magic Storm to come with me?"

Link nodded.

"You're not my knight yet, but you sure know how to act like it," Zelda laughed. She placed her hand over link and slipped her fingers in between his laying her head against his shoulder again. "You make me feel so safe. When I'm with you, everything's okay."

Link put his arm around Zelda again and the two looked out over the horizon. The sun was beginning to move over to the Western side of the sky. In a few hours it would set.

"The Magic Storm, what do you think it's like?" Zelda asked.

"Like magic I guess?" Link responded.

Zelda laughed at his obvious answer. She left leaning against Link for the moment and leaned over the battlements, staring out into the air. "You know, starting tomorrow, when I'm finally able to go anywhere I want, there are so many places I want to go and so many things I want to see." She turned her head and looked up at Link. "And you'll be there right at my side." She smiled again. "We can finally make up for all of those years when we barely saw each other."

"I'm looking forward to it," Link told Zelda.

"Me too," Zelda's smile widened. She stood back up straight and put her arms around Link, locking her fingers together on his opposite shoulder. "Sometimes, when I think about it, I've always imagined leaving with you, going someplace quiet and never coming back. Just you and me."

Link was about to say something back, but then he noticed an ominous dark cloud coming over the horizon. He gasped and Zelda gasped too.

"It looks like it's starting," she said, "We should go down to the basement, but…" Zelda stared at the cloud a little longer.

"What's wrong?" Link asked.

"I don't like the looks of that cloud," she looked at Link with a serious expression, "Let's just go down a couple of floors to my bedroom and look through my window until I can get a better view. We'll be protected from the rain. The wind, ice and lightning aren't supposed to come for a little while later."

Link nodded in agreement and understanding. He and Zelda went down to her bedroom. It was the first time Link had been inside just him and Zelda, without Impa there, but the mood was not right for what was necessary besides his and Zelda's solitude together. Zelda watched the cloud approach and saw it forming over the horizon and the shadow it was casting on Hyrule. "As I thought, that cloud is far too chaotic to be the source of Valg's energy."

"You can tell from this far away?" Link asked.

"I'm of royal blood, we're sensitive to magical energies," Zelda told him. "What's important right now though is that we find out what's going on. That cloud is obviously not the magic storm. Take me to the library immediately. You might not be my personal knight yet, but you're still in Impa's guard, it's your duty to protect me."

"I know," Link answered and honored Zelda's request.

The princess spent a few minutes shuffling about the library as she looked for a book on the ancient dragons. She finally found one that was relevant to the information she was searching for.

"As I feared," she said gravely, "Link, come take a look at this," she waved him over. Link stood at her side. Zelda pointed to the page she was on. Pictured in the scripture was a dragon with two gigantic horns on either side of its head, glowing green eyes, a black body, and a pale-yellow underbelly and lower jaw. "Giganolais," Zelda read the caption, "The tenth dragon: the Dragon of Chaos. Giganolais is the tenth elemental dragon and the most powerful of them all. He is so powerful that he was locked away long ago by the combined powers of the other nine dragons. He was never meant to be reawakened again. Giganolais is known for his pure undulated power and his sheer size as he is approximately three times larger than the other elemental dragons." Zelda closed the book. "That's all it says."

"That's it?" Link questioned, alarmed.

"I know, it's not much to go on, but we have to warn the townspeople of the impending danger. Giganolais is a monster, I've heard the fairytales. When he existed Hyrule was covered in destruction and death so vast that it was like he was combining Shadow and Argant's powers into something much more lethal."

"Warn the townspeople, but they're already underground, or should be," Link told Zelda.

"Hmm, that's a good point," Zelda stated, She began to pace with her hands behind her back, "What to do?"

"Should we tell Impa?" Link asked.

"I don't think even Commandant Bastion could do much of anything against Giganolais. No, what we should do is hide and pray that Hyrule is still standing after Giganolais' rampage." Zelda grabbed Link's hand, "Come on!" Zelda and Link began to run, but they were still above ground and storm was already reaching Hyrule. The windows on their right shattered and Zelda screamed in fright dropping to her feet. Link defended her by standing in front of her and holding up his shield. A fragment of glass cut his cheek, but other than that he was fine. "Thank you Link!" Zelda exclaimed, getting to her feet. "Please protect me. We must make great haste to the castle's lowest basement!" A fierce tremor shook the two Hylians as both nearly lost their balance, but by holding hands remained standing up. Link gave a determined look to Zelda and stood in front of her and both made haste towards the basement. However, as they ran through the halls of the castle they were set upon by monsters coming in through the windows.

"We do not have time for this," Zelda frowned. She stood in front of Link and channeled magic in her hands, "Argant's Fire!" A powerful fireball erupted from Zelda's hands and hit all of the monsters at the same time, vanquishing them.

"Remind me to stay on your good side," Link said, joking a little.

"You're always on my good side," Zelda said and turned towards the descending stairs, "Let's go!" Zelda and Link hurried down the stairs, making their way to the foyer of the inside of the castle. They would then have to cross the courtyard and go east to enter the shelter doors and head further down to reach the castle's lowest basement.

Since the armory was on the way, Zelda suggested that Link trade out his steel sword for one made of silver ore, she said they were better crafted and there was no telling what kind of danger they could run into. Taking her advice, Link grabbed a silver sword and Zelda opened the front door with magic. The winds were now howling fiercely and the door was pressed too closely against its hinges to be opened manually. Once out in the courtyard Zelda and Link could finally see what was going on. An ominous red light cast itself over the sky. The winds were blowing fiercely and rain poured down like a monsoon. Lightning was flashing as well.

However, even with all of these fantastic elements, none could even come close to the sight before Zelda and Link as they stood in front of the castle's interior doors. Standing in the middle of the Hyrule Market, chaotic green eyes poised at Link and Zelda's current location, his massive size overwhelming, was the dragon of chaos: Giganolais.

"Oh no," Zelda said, seeing the dragon, "What do we do?"

"You'll come quietly with me, Princess Zelda." Link and Zelda looked off to their left where a pentagonal prism of shadow was forming. From out it stepped a man with red-orange hair and dark skin. He was wearing battle armor of very high craftsmanship and had a cape billowing down behind him.

"Who…are you?" Zelda asked, cowering behind Link.

"I am Ganondorf of the Gerudo from the Desert Lands, worshippers of the Light Dragon, Maldor, until today that is. I have succeeded in resurrecting Giganolais the dragon of chaos and disharmony. I am here for you," Ganondorf pointed at Zelda, "Princess Zelda."

"M-me? But why?" Zelda was scared and confused.

"You will understand, given time, now unless you want Hyrule flattened to the ground you will come with me," Ganondorf declared.

"She's not going anywhere with you," Link declared defiantly, whipping out his sword and shield.

"Foolish boy, you are dealing with powers far behind your wildest dreams." In a flash of shadowy smoke Ganondorf disappeared and before Link knew it he had been punched in the gut with an electrified fist, knocking him unconscious. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was Zelda call out his name.

When Link finally came to he was in the infirmary, or rather a tent meant to look like the infirmary.

"I say," he heard Atticus' unmistakable voice, "it looks like he's waking up."

"Move!" this time he heard Impa.

Link's eyes opened slowly and he adjusted to his surroundings. Impa, Atticus and Botor were all standing around him. "You okay?" Impa asked.

"Where's Zelda?" Link asked.

"Awake for less than ten seconds and already thinking of the princess first, she chose well," Botor affirmed.

"I say, I agree," Atticus attested.

"Both of you hush!" Impa snapped.

Atticus and Botor both saluted and stood motionless. They could tell Impa was not in a good mood.

"Link I saw the whole thing through my scrying glass," Impa told Link, "I tried to get to you the moment I noticed Giganolais in the town square, but by the time I got above ground both the dragon and Zelda were gone."

"And Ganondorf?" Link asked.

"Ganondorf? The King of the Gerudos? What's he got to do with this?" Impa asked.

"He's controlling Giganolais," Link answered.

"I see, this might be worse than I originally thought," Impa pondered. "Link, get some rest and then meet me in the Royal Garden, the main garden, not Zelda's, understood?"

"I'm well enough to go now," Link responded.

"I'm only going to say this once: Get. Some. Rest. You took a nasty injury from whatever hit you. It's amazing some of your vital organs weren't ruptured from the impact. Am I understood?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Link surrendered.

"Good, now get some rest," Impa told Link. "Atticus! Botor! Come! There's still plenty of relief work to be done!"

"I say, we're right behind you!"  
>"Yes Captain Impa, right behind you!"<p>

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><p>Link rested for a little while longer as his captain requested and then headed to the garden to meet up with her. His approach to the castle and its garden had not been a pleasant one. Most of the castle town had been flattened and door to enter the courtyard demolished. Large brick buildings now lay in ruins. Thankfully it seemed that though the city had fallen the people would live on. Since Giganolais' rampage had been confused for the Magic Storm casualties were minimalized.<p>

Link found Impa standing next to Lukin, scratching the big fellow behind the ear. When Lukin saw Link he bound up to him, looked at Link and whined.

"He knows doesn't he?" Link asked Impa.

"Well that and he's been worried about you too," Impa told Link as she turned around to face him. "We actually didn't think you were going to make it, Link," Impa said to him, "You've been comatose for two weeks now. When I found lying on the ground you had suffered massive internal bleeding. Had I arrived even a little while later you might be dead. Our best clerics healed you back to health. Though I think most of your recovering is in thanks to your remarkably strong willpower. It seems your determination isn't restricted to just the battlefield."

"And what about Zelda? What's being done to rescue her?" Link wanted to know.

Impa laughed, "One tracked mind," she then spoke seriously, "Commandant Bastion and a few other Brigade Captains already left in search for Zelda. With the appearance of Giganolais even the King agreed this isn't something my brigade could handle on its own. However, we've nothing in regards to their search. I can only assume the worst. With you awake though I think that'll help morale. It wouldn't do us good though to send out the whole brigade and while it was never made official, you are Zelda's personal knight. It's your duty to go after her. There's plenty of work to be done rebuilding Hyrule. The commandant left me in charge until his return so I'm grounded here at the castle. I've already sent Atticus and Botor out on their own to look for Zelda themselves, but I want you to go out as well."

"What about Camilia?" Link asked.

Impa sighed, "Camilia took Zelda's disappearance very hard. She's been shut up in her home since, poor thing. I don't know if she'll come out too look for her, but be prepared to accept that she won't be of much help."

"Where do I begin my search?" Link asked.

"A man of integrity I see, but that's one of the things I like about you," Impa responded, "I'd go east to the Pixie Forest first. There's an old storyteller that might know a little bit more about the legend of the elemental dragons than is available in our archives, especially with the appearance of Giganolais. Go and seek him out."

"I'll depart immediately," Link told Impa.

"That's what I like to hear," Impa said with a smile, "Go down to the stables and saddle up on Epona. Attached to her saddle is a satchel that's been magically enhanced to store an infinite amount of items. I've already placed a world map inside as well as your last paycheck and supplies for the long trip ahead. The princess' fate may very well rest on your shoulders Link, good luck."

Before leaving Lukin looked up at Link and wagged his tail. Link pet the big wolf's head. "Don't worry boy, I'll bring Zelda back safe and sound."

Lukin barked happily several times and then ran off. Link then proceeded to the stables where, as Impa said, Epona was waiting for him. The red haired mare, the fastest and wildest in all of Hyrule, Link's personally trained steed whinnied at her rider's approach. Link pat Epona's snout before climbing up on top of his mount and signaling Epona to take off, exiting the stables and riding through the ruins of Hyrule, heading out to the field and making his way east towards the Pixie Forest.

He didn't get very far before he heard a voice calling out to him. "OIIIIIIIII!"

Link heard the galloping of another horse headed towards his position and slowed his pace to let the oncoming rider catch up with him. It was Camilia. "I heard you were heading out to go look for Zelda."

Link simply smiled at his fellow lieutenant.

"Don't smile at me! I blame you for Zelda's kidnapping! If I had been at her side this never would've happened!" Camilia exclaimed. She looked forward. "I'm only coming because I'm really worried about Zelda. If we work together there's no doubt we'll bring her back safe and sound."

"Glad to have you along for the ride," Link told the tangerine haired girl.

"You won't be saying that for long, when this is over, Zelda will change her mind about making you her knight," She pulled on the reins of her thoroughbred horse, "Hi ho Caramel!" Camilia's steed charged forward east and Link urged Epona to follow, the red mare catching up and matching Camilia's steed in no time. Together, Link and Camilia would bring back Zelda. The journey had officially begun.

**End of Chapter 2**

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><p><strong>(AN: And so Link headed off on his quest to rescue the princess. What dangers would await him? What excitement would he find? God that's cheesy, glad I didn't add it to the actual narration. So yeah Zelda's been kidnapped and the series has officially begun with Link and Camilia heading off to meet the wise old storyteller to find out more about Giganolais. Please note that, until I finish Soul Chess, this is all of this fic I will be posting for now. I just want some feedback as to whether or not it is a good idea for me to continue this fic once I finish Soul Chess. After all if I have no backing there's no reason for me to continue writing now is there? So subscribe, fave, review, do whatever to make me think that this fic won't be a waste of my time. And now for some questions: Are Commandant Bastion and his fellow soldiers still alive? What does Giganolais' appearance mean for the rest of the elemental dragons? What do you make of this incarnation of Link and the universe itself? Is Camilia gay for Zelda? What is Ganondorf scheming? Well I'm sure there are more questions I can't even think of that you have answers to, but just leave your thoughts with me and I'll be sure to answer your reviews/comments. I will also give bonus points to anyone that can properly deduce what would obviously be a sidequest if this were made into an actual game AND if you can figure out where the inspiration to Atticus and Botor are coming from. Hint: It's from a JRPG made by NAMCO. This is draconichero20 and I'll see you next time).**


	3. The Legend Unveiled, a Hero Prophecized

**(A/N: I know I said I wouldn't work on this until Soul Chess was finished, but after playing Ocarina of Time by collecting every last heart piece and then beating Ganondorf and also from Link's victory in Death Battle, spoiler, I just had to do the next chapter for this).**

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda, Miyamoto does

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><p><strong>(Use the Hyrule Field Twilight Princess music for the opening scene)<strong>

Hoofs clomped along the grass as Link and Camilia made their way towards Pixie Forest where the old storyteller lived. The forest was just southeast of the dreaded Ebony Woods which house the temple of Shadow, the dragon of darkness. However, while both forests were in relatively close proximity to Hyrule, the Pixie Forest was all the less dangerous. It was home to the fairies of the forest and many other non-threatening species of life.

The fairies of the forest differed greatly from the fairies of the sky/wind. The forest fairies were all barely half a foot tall and there was illumination around their bodies. In contrast, the fairies of the sky were human-sized, often considered the "great fairies" by the Hylian people. However, very rarely did these fairies descend to the world below. And even then, only the revered adults ever descended when called upon at their shrines.

In contrast to the more friendly sky fairies, the fairies of the forest were skittish creatures and as Link and Camilia clomped through the forest on horseback, the forest fairies dispersed like scared butterflies. The sight of smoke rising up from a tent in the middle of the woods alerted Link and Camilia to the presence of the storyteller's hut.

Descending from Epona and Caramel, the two knights walked into the hut to see an old, bald, but with a fuzzy beard, dark-skinned man, sitting with his legs crossed and no clothing on except for a loincloth. He had a wolf-fang necklace dressed around his neck and many different colored tattoos. He opened his eyes. Link and Camilia could see that he was blind. A small fire pit sat in front of the two knights and it was causing the smoke they had seen.

The old storyteller looked in their general direction. "Ah, I have guests. Might you be knights Link and Camilia the two whose visit I have forseen within my fire."

"How can you foresee anything? You're blind!"

The storyteller held up a hand. "One does not need eyes to see the future. You have come here seeking knowledge about the Legend of the Elemental Dragons. What do you know already?"

"Only what is taught in books," Link answered. Camilia could only nod her head in agreement.

"Then sit," The storyteller gestured in front of him, "There is much for me to tell you."

Link and Camilia sat on the ground while the storyteller grabbed a large staff with a deer skull on the end of it and a bag of powder next to it. He threw some of the powder onto the fire pit causing it to flare up. Camilia recoiled. Link simply blinked without flinching. The fire pit now had a strange scent to it.

"Close your eyes," the storyteller commanded, waving his staff in a peculiar fashion, "Let the visions I give you penetrate your minds."

Link and Camilia closed their eyes and the magic smoke gave them the images the storyteller showed them. Images of Giganolais' sealing were shown first. "The great dragon of chaos, Giganolias, was sealed to never be reawakened, his power far too strong to be allowed to wander the Earth. Though he was a gentle giant by nature, many men, like Ganondorf, could use his powers for the wrong reasons, exactly as when he had been sealed.

"Long ago, when Giganolais first went on his rampage, his awakening into our world from the Dragon Kingdom prevented the other dragons from arriving during the festival. They were put to sleep, their temples sealed. They could not awaken, but a brave warrior went to their temples and using a portion of their powers forged a powerful sword encompassing their power.

"You must go to the temples and collect the powers of the eight dragons to restore the power of the sword now that its magic has been lost."

The vision ended and Link and Camilia were left looking at the storyteller.

"So just how do we find this sword?" Camilia asked.

"I have it," the storyteller stated, "But in its current condition it is no stronger than the silver sword you are carrying Link. No, it must be bonded to at least one dragon before it is considered a powerful weapon. Link," the storyteller looked at him, "You have been chosen by the dragons in my visions to reforge the Dragon Force Sword."

"Link? What about me?" Camilia complained.

"You have your own part to play Miss Camilia, but it is Link who will wield the power of the dragons." The storyteller looked back at Link. "You must find one temple and harness the power of that dragon, but take note: the first dragon you awaken will be brought to this world, unable to return until you have defeated Giganolais. Make your decision carefully as to who you will choose to awaken first. In the fiery temple on Death Mountain, Argant awaits you. In the depths of Lake Hylia, Typhoon resides. In the sky amongst the fairies of the wind, Hurricane lives. In the Icy Tundra you will find Whiplash. Beneath the earth of Hyrule is the temple of Emerald. In the Stormy Plains Valg can be found. In the lands to the west, amongst the Gerudo, you will find Maldor. And in the Ebony Woods is where Shadow makes his home. I have nothing more to tell you. The rest is on your own."

Link and Camilia left the hut and climbed back onto their horses in order to exit the forest.

"So," Camilia said once they were out, "Should we head to Ebony Woods? It's the closest place."

"I'd rather start with Argant," Link responded.

"What? Death Mountain is several days away from here, why would you want to go there?"

"I want Argant as a partner."

"What does it matter? A dragon's a dragon no matter what."

"You just don't understand."

Camilia simmered. "Whatever, you're the one that has to get the sword, but I think we're wasting time. Every minute we spend adventuring is a minute Zelda is in danger."

Link gave a glare as if to say "I know that" and galloped away with Epona.

"H-hey, wait up!"

Link and Camilia traveled northwest towards Death Mountain. However, they didn't get very far. Standing in their way was a man completely encased in ebony armor, parts of it glowing red. He was carrying a sword so gigantic and huge it was a wonder he could still wield it with all the heavy armor on him. He was wearing a helmet that completely concealed his face and had a red cape flowing out behind him. Link thought that perhaps this could be one of those Mighty Darknuts he'd heard so much about, but he couldn't be more wrong.

"Who are you?" Camilia asked.

"I am Knil," the warrior said extending out his blade to which red Hylian characters glowed along the length of the blade to spell out his name, "king of the Darknuts." The man's voice echoed and was very, very deep.

"Knil?" Camilia read the name on the side of the sword. She looked at Link. "That's your name backwards."

Link rolled his eyes as if the obvious needed to be pointed out. Still he descended from Epona and drew his weapons to face off against Knil.

Knil snorted. "I find it amusing that you actually think you can defeat me. The great Ganondorf revived me from long ago. The bokoblins, the moblins, the darknuts, all of Hyrule's legions of monsters do his bidding. You cannot stop us."

"Oh yeah, and you're supposed to make us?" Camilia asked.

"I am," Knil said and a battle ensued between him, Link and Camilia. With his gigantic sword Knil rushed forward and swung out wide forcing his two opponents to disperse.

Camilia rushed in and delivered several rapid sword thrusts against Knil's ebony armor, but the fearsome warrior shrugged it off like it was nothing before slashing outward and his weapon creating a huge gash in Camilia's body, cutting straight through her chainmail and the force knocking her onto her back and forcing her to slide along the ground.

Knil was prepared when Link came in and bashed his shield into the warrior's helmet. Spinning clockwise, Knil swatted Link with the flat end of his gigantic blade and sent the warrior flying. Link backflipped while in the air and then rushed along the ground before locking his blade against Knil's pressing against it with vigorous tenacity.

"Impressive," Knil had to give credit to Link's skill with the blade and the glare he was giving him. "However, you are out of your mind if you think you have what it takes to defeat me, kid." Leaping away from Link, Knil swung his blade with both hands, emitting a powerful dark energy beam from his sword. Link was forced to block the incoming strike with his shield and was pushed back. Knil came in like lightning and began wailing on Link with his heavy blade. The knight-lieutenant could barely keep his bearings from the weight and force of the sword being swung at him. "What's the matter? Is this all you can muster? You set out to defeat my master, but you don't even have what it takes to defeat me." With a fierce war cry Knil lifted up his sword again and emitted another energy beam as he swung it, pushing Link back again. Link dropped to one knee, exhausted. Knil approached slowly, blade dragging on the ground.

Link panted for a scant few moments as his opponent drew near. Knil's overwhelming power frightened the young man, but as he stared down what could be his last fight the image of a frightened, captive Zelda ran through his mind. With renewed purpose Link returned to his feet, tightly gripping his sword and shield. Zelda was counting on him and he would not let her down.

_Hmm, what's this? _Knil pondered, _he's standing again. _Link swung his blade out towards Knil, challenging him, _Heh, he still wants to take me on. How pretentious. _However, Knil suddenly realized that Link was already charging towards him and before he could even prepare to counter he was put on the defensive. _What? When did he get so fast?_

With a fierce battle cry Link turned clockwise and performed a hacking, diagonal, arcing sweep at Knil, cracking into the warrior's armor. Knil retaliated by attacking Link, but he missed and with a fierce outward swipe Link bashed the warrior away with the side of his shield before taking a firm stance in the ground and spinning around and around and around, destabilizing Knil and actually managing to inflict damage as he cut right through the warrior's armor and into his flesh beneath.

"Gargh!" Knil bent over on his blade as Link stood behind him. Shield sheathed and both hands on his blade Link prepared to deliver the final blow as he ran towards Knil and leapt into the air intent on using Knil's helmet as the pedestal for the silver sword he was carrying. Unfortunately, Knil managed to roll out of the way and blocked Link's outward horizontal swing. "Where did all this power suddenly come from?"

Link didn't answer. He simply drew back his sword, re-equipped his shield and stabbed forward, but Knil blocked again. Link kept on the offensive taking huge arcing swings at the dark warrior, but Knil had finally gotten his bearings and his surprise at Link's sudden burst of energy was waning into nonexistence.

The fight continued on with swings, misses, parries, blocks and weapon locks with sparks flying from the clash of weapons. Link's agility kept him from taking the full force of most of Knil's attacks and Knil's stalwart stance protected him from most of Link's advances as he blocked Link's strikes.

"Your courage is admirable young warrior, but this is it." With a mighty uplifting sweeping attack, the sheer power behind Knil's attack threw Link completely off balance before the massive warrior plunged his entire blade into Link's stomach, piercing all the way through. He retracted his blade and held Link by the throat. "Courage is no match for power." He then tossed Link aside and left him to bleed out and die.

Link did not die though and eventually came to in the same field, revived by some forest fairies that had the stomach to finally come out of hiding once Knil had vanished. Link got to his feet, his injuries patched like they had never been there thanks to the friendly fairies. He looked around, Camilia was nowhere in sight and Caramel was a corpse nearby. Link looked around for Epona, unable to spot the red mare, but moments later a whinny alerted him as the horse came up from behind to brush the back of Link's arm, happy that her master was okay. Link pet Epona as he reached his arm up and over her head and brushed her mane. The horse nickered and shook her head.

Link took in a deep breath and took a moment to absorb what had just occurred. He had been ruthlessly and completely annihilated by Knil. Even with his adrenaline rush he stood no chance against Knil's superior might. If that weren't bad enough not only was Zelda missing, but there was no telling what had happened to Camilia. Worst case scenario was she was dead, but Link couldn't smell the stench of decay anywhere else other than Caramel. Link wished he could dig a grave for the horse, but he didn't have a shovel. Instead he picked up a mound of dirt and spread it over the dead equine for the peace of the creature's soul. With another deep breath Link leapt up onto Epona's back, snapped the reins and made for Death Mountain.

Kakariko village was on the way to the mountain so Link felt the need to stop in the town and stock up on supplies. The village was very peaceful and it was one of the many towns in the center of Hyrule Field. Nearby was Lon Lon Ranch, the Blue Village, Clockwork Town, Windfall Village, and, lastly, Skymaven, which was the only cityesque town that could be compared to Hyrule's Castle Market. All of the villages were within a few hours distance of each other, but Kakariko was the only one on Link's path to Death Mountain. It was also Impa's home town so he could relay a message to a contact his captain had in the village to send a letter of his progress, or rather the dire situation at hand, and hope the ever famous Pegasus Mailman, given the name because he wore pegasus boots and delivered all the mail in all of Hyrule's towns and to all of the tribes on foot thanks to the super speed provided by his boots.

After exiting the post office to write and send the letter, Link made his way to the bazaar next. With the money in his wallet he only had enough for a grappling hook and still had some rupees left over. The boomerang and bow, also on sale in the shop, were several times more than he was carrying on him. Link had some practice with such extra weapons when he borrowed them from the armory, but he'd never owned one of his very own.

Back outside, Link unloaded his grappling hook and spent some time getting used to the weapon. He'd never used a grappling hook himself, but he'd read up on how useful they were for exploration and given Link would be exploring eight different temples, he felt a grappling hook would serve him well.

With the money leftover Link was going to head to the bar in the village next. The bars in Hyrule were always open and always served a variety of potions and beverages. However, Link's favorite was Hyrule's special Lon Lon Milk. It was pasteurized and made so well that the milk always stayed fresh no matter how long it stayed in the bottle. Link preferred it over the nasty tasting potions. Potions were more expensive and only had one serving. In the long run he found milk to be the superior choice.

However, before Link could even waltz over to the bartender and place his order he walked in on trouble. Three large men were huddled around a spot in the bar and there was a shrill shriek of a damsel in distress. Combined with his heroic instincts and his foul mood for his failure from before, Link wasted no time leaping into action.

Link rushed in and cracked the side of his shield into the face of one of the men. With their attention achieved Link slammed the front of his shield into the stomach of the man to his right, knocking the wind out of him, before backhand punching the third guy in the face.

"Yo, what the hell's your problem guy?" The middle guy, the first one Link had taken down, got up and demanded to know.

Link turned around with an intimidating scowl upon his face, reached into his pocket and let out a short authoritative grunt as he pulled out his knight's seal.

The thug looked like he was ready to piss his pants when he saw the hylian emblem. "S-sorry Mr. Knight sir, um…look we was just messing around. We don't want no trouble. Here," he handed Link a small satchel, "Here's twenty rupees. Can we go now?"

Link pondered his options of what to do before casually saying, "If I wasn't in the middle of a mission right now I'd haul you to jail myself."

"Right we get it, again we're sorry. Come on boys. Let's get out of here!" The three thugs left the bar and ran away. Link finally turned around to see who it was they had been assaulting and/or possibly trying to violate. He blinked when he got a good look at the person he rescued.

The woman he rescued was not hylian, she was a sky fairy. He could tell because of her pale violet skin, gray hair and the fact that she was the size of a hylian while forest fairies were the size of insects. She looked an absolute mess. Her wings were sagging and she seemed rather sickly. Her eyes were dulled and she seemed very weak. Link looked over to the bartender who had done nothing to help the situation—not that he could've done anything to those massive brutes—and beckoned the man with his hand, asking for a drink. Link pointed to the green potion and used the twenty rupees he had just been given and gave it to the fairy girl who was on the ground and suffering.

She looked at Link's kindness with surprise, having been on the verge of sexual violation mere moments ago, but when she saw his kind smile and his generous hand she took the bottle without hesitation and downed the entire potion in one gulp. The fairy rose triumphantly to her feet and threw back her head as her gray hair turned vibrant and glittery. It was no longer dull gray, but instead was now periwinkle in color and cascaded down to her midback. Her eyes were now full of life with their turquoise color and her pale skin was not a deep purple hue. Her wings stretched out and flapped as she levitated an inch or two off the ground with her dainty bare feet in full view. She was wearing a sky blue gown with a purple flower pattern upon her breast and an alternating pattern of triangles and circles down by the bottom of the gown with a straight purple line running around the entire fabric. Even though she was floating she still was not as tall as Link. He was about half a foot taller than her.

"Thank you for helping me," the fairy said to Link, "If not for your timely arrival I would've surely been at the mercy of those brutish pigs your kind excuses for men. Normally such people are not a problem, but I was exhausted from my journey from my home in the sky to your world down below. By the time I reached this village I was so exhausted that I just needed a potion like the one you gave me. I was just about to order it when I was jumped. If you hadn't shown up, I don't even want to think what would've happened.

"Ah, but I haven't even asked for the name of my knight in green armor," the fairy giggled, "by your uniform you are obviously a knight of Hyrule. What is your name sir knight?" Link gave the fairy his name. "Link?" The fairy seemed surprised. "This must be fate then. My name is Trixie Mescearl. I am a princess of the sky kingdom of the wind fairies. My kingdom tells of a prophecy of a young man wearing green clothes by the name of Link. The prophecy, or legend if you will, states that this young man will make his way through many harrowing trials and become the vanquisher of Giganolais, a feat not accomplishable in times of yore. I was sent by my mother to find you.

"While it is our job to simply watch and observe such does not have to be the case. Normally we are supposed to seek out key personnel, tell them their destiny and watch from high above with a scrying glass, but that's just so boring," Trixie lamented the last part, "I'd much rather travel at your side as your companion, what do you say, Sir Link?"

"Follow me, I need your help," Link answered.

Trixie clapped her hands together and smiled brightly. "Thank you Link, I promise you will not regret this. I promise I will make myself useful. As a princess of the fairies I am a powerful sorcerer. Just say the word and I will use my wind magic to aid you."

Link nodded in understanding.

"Now then, the legend says that the first step of your journey involves in casting the great sword of destiny in the fires of the northwest. It is my understanding then that you are supposed to visit Argant's Temple and obtain his fire crystal and then feed it to the ancient sword that is to become the Dragon Force sword. You do have it yes?"

"I don't, but there's an old man in the Pixie Forest that is holding onto it."

"Just the same then," Trixie condoned, "The sword you're carrying, from what I can tell by the hilt, is a silver long sword, without a crystal to empower the legendary blade the sword you are carrying now is more powerful to you. We will make great haste for Death Mountain. I am not familiar with the outlay of the world below; it took me many days just to find this village. I will follow you. Shall we be off?"

Link nodded and Trixie followed him outside upon which Link saddled up onto Epona, but first he bought two Lon Lon Milks for the road to replenish himself in case he became fatigued.

Before Link took off down the road Trixie looked up at him from her hovering position on the ground, "U-um, Link this is going to sound strange, but you don't mind if I accompany you upon your horse do you?"

"Can't you fly?" Link asked.

"Well yes, but flying and floating requires magic power as does casting spells. The potion you gave me did not restore me to my full strength, but it is enough for now. I'd like to conserve more energy in order to be of more use to you. Er, but if you're uncomfortable in allowing me to share your steed, I understand."

"It's okay, hop on."

"Th-thank you," Trixie hoisted herself up onto Epona who snorted as she sat down behind Link and then, hesitantly, wrapped her arms around her companion. "S-sorry if I'm violating your personal space it's just…I'm very unfamiliar with the world below. I don't wish to fall off."

"Relax, it's okay, really."

Trixie smiled again. "Your kindness is very reassuring Link, thank you."

In the next moment, Link snapped the reins and Epona took off like lightning towards Death Mountain. It was a far trip and when the sun came down, Link slid down off Epona and, with Trixie's help, set up camp. Link took some food out of his bag that Impa had given him for the road ahead and cooked it. He was so involved in the cooking process that he didn't notice that Trixie seemed to have vanished from the campsite.

Slightly panicked he took a look around the area only to find her gown folded neatly along the grass and nearby was a lake. Trixie appeared to be bathing in it. A thought then struck Link. Trixie's clothes were here and she was in the lake. That meant that she was naked.

Many thoughts swirled about the knight's head about what to do. He had to let Trixie know dinner was ready, but at the same time to approach an undressed woman was unbecoming of a knight.

_I really shouldn't, _Link thought to himself, unfortunately he had no alternative.

Before he could take two steps forward though, Trixie noticed his presence. Thankfully it was so dark out and Link was quite a ways away that neither could see the other that clearly. Trixie protected her decency by covering her chest with her arms and there was quite a bit to cover.

She had a right mind to walk over and slap Link, but all that got out was an embarrassed, "Wh-wh-what is it?"

"Dinner's ready."

"Th-th-thanks. Could you go back to the campsite and wait for me? I'll be along shortly. And don't come any closer. That's far enough!" Ah there was the biting snap she was looking for initially.

Link just smiled and returned to the campsite and began serving out portions.

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><p>Meanwhile, in the western lands beyond the Gerudo Desert, a large ominous temple stood. These western lands were known as the No Man's Land because no one in Hyrule dare ventured into them. No Man's Land was broken into three sections and was findable beyond tall, tall mountains behind Maldor's Temple. The first section was the outskirts referred to as the Tainted Forest, the second section was the Scarred Cliffs, which covered most of the terrain, and finally there was White Dust Canyon, the innermost portion. White Dust Canyon was aptly named for the fine layer of chalky dust that mysteriously covered all the grass and rock and in the center there was a pool of lava which in the center of the pool was Giganolais' burial site, which had been transformed into a gigantic, foreboding, intimidating, and terrifying castle for Ganondorf's personal use.<p>

Knil was returning to his master's side inside the sanctuary only to be informed that Link was still on the move.

"S-sir, I was certain I killed him!" Knil begged for mercy.

"You almost did, but those blasted forest fairies saw fit to help him. You did good work Knil, I'm proud of you."

Knil dropped to one knee, placing his blade in front of him, point in the floor, "Sir, you praise me to highly."

"I give credit where credit is due, now gather the others."

"I see, so it is time then?"

"Yes, Knil."

"I understand, master."

A short while later Knil had gathered Ganondorf's other followers. Ganondorf, with the power of Giganolais at his disposal, had command not only of the monsters throughout the land, but also of their fiercest generals, his elite evil eight, the Elemental Generals. Unfortunately his army lacked a key ingredient: a commander of the wind element, and finally he had just that so now it was time to address his motley crew.

Knil returned with his fellow generals in tow. Knil himself was of course master of darkness and he was King of the Darknuts. He not only commanded the fearsome armored warriors, but also the many bokoblins and moblins scattered throughout the land.

Besides Knil, there was Terraform the Armos King. Terraform was a master of the Earth. He stood several feet taller than Knil and wore faded, dusted green armor with moss, lichen and ivy crawling all over it. The armor was thicker than even Knil's. He carried a sword and shield that looked like they had aged poorly as the shield looked cracked and the sword looked like it had been carved out of a broken pillar or the side of a mountain.

In charge of the water was Acuthem. Acuthem was an Octorak with amazing intelligence and a humanoid build. He had eight tentacles, four of which he stood upon and two he used to wield his magic staff and prized orb of water. He was a powerful sorcerer. His body was the color of uncooked clam meat and his head was shaped like his non-sapient brethren, but instead of a cannon-like protrusion for a mouth he had a bird-like beak and while this made his voice rather squawky the others could still understand him.

The oddly chosen lord of lightning was Nekrosis, a necromancer that was in charge of all of Ganondorf's Redeads and Stalfos. Nekrosis had skeletal hands and while his left hand was rather normal, his right hand was covered in magical, violet veins that pulsed and glowed. These veins were used for resurrecting the dead and to unleash Nekrosis' powerful lightning magic.

The generals of fire and ice were twin sisters commanding wraiths of their two elements. Koume commanded fire, while Koete commanded ice. While their armies were the smallest they made up for it by their own strength in both physical and magical combat. Originally though they were simply immortal witches, but with their master's return—Giganolais not ganondorf—both women had regained their youth. Both had gone from grubby old hags to absolute bombshells. They had the skins of Gerudo, but had been living in the No Man's Land for centuries, twisted by its chaotic properties so they no longer affiliated themselves with their birth people. Both had long legs, laced up in knee high, fishnet boots—ruby red for Koume, ice blue for Koete. Both women wore short skirts, again color coordinated to tell them apart with Koume's being dark red and Koete's being navy blue. Either twin only wore a single breast plate, barely covering their supple tan bodies, muscular midriff in full view, though Koume's was slightly bulkier than Koete's. Both women wore gold circlets with a gem signifying, which element they commanded: ruby for Koume, sapphire for Koete. Both women had large bushy pigtails. Koume's hair was orange with red tips while Koete's was silver with light blue tips.

The wielder of the light element's name was Keisa. Keisa's affiliation to Ganondorf's armies was unknown. Ganondorf had expected he'd have to find elements of both wind and light to complete his army, but Keisa had eagerly joined the team upon word getting around of Giganolais' release. The light element was an odd thing for Ganondorf, while he commanded every monster in Hyrule from No Man's Land to the Eastern Sea beyond Ebony Woods, not a single monster could ever be considered affiliated by Light and yet Keisa wielded it no problem. Keisa wore a form-fitting, violet, leather suit with a layer of gray, cloth bands wrapped around his torso. He had a painting of the sun emblazoned on the bands and on his head were more cloth bands, covering everything except for a tuft of his blonde hair and his red right eye surrounded by a fair skin color. Keisa was faster than Knil and more skilled in hand-to-hand combat than either Koume or Koete. Keisa could easily be considered something of an assassin, odd considering the man's chosen element, but nonetheless he had more than proved his capabilities to Ganondorf. He had even volunteered to attack Link eagerly in place of Knil, but was turned down on his offer because Ganondorf trusted Knil and knew he could get the job done. Keisa wielded no monster servants much unlike his fellow elemental generals, but he didn't seem like he needed any given his capabilities.

And now, finally, Ganondorf had a servant of wind. He had expected one to be granted to him to command the rocs and other flying monstrosities that flew across Hyrule, but sadly such had not been the case. So, he had to look elsewhere for assistance and finally he had.

"So, what's this all about?" Koume asked, folding one arm under bust and placing her opposite elbow on the back of her hand.

Without turning away from the stained glass window, Ganondorf spoke to his elemental generals, "I have assembled you all here to welcome your new ally. She will command the element of the wind."

"I thought we were all supposed to answer some form of calling, like I did," Keisa spoke up, "You make it sound like you forced this one to join us."

"She didn't need much persuasion," Ganondorf chuckled lightly. He looked to a door over to his left to welcome his new general to the others.

In walked a young woman, even younger looking than Keisa, Koume or Koete. She was wearing gray colored plate armor and carrying a large almond shaped shield with two spikes jutting out of the tops and bottoms. Beneath the plate armor was a layer of chainmail. The woman was carrying a powerful looking, jagged blade in her other hand. She was wearing a hood on her head, but it did not conceal her face and one could just barely make out her tangerine hair. Her eyes glowed green and as she gripped her weaponry a flow of green energy pulsed through her entire armor like the flow of a signal from the brain throughout the central nervous system.

Turning around to address not only his new general, but also his other minions Ganondorf said, with his arms folded, "Introduce yourself, my dear."

The wind general turned to face her fellow generals as she put away her weapon in the proper scabbard as she crossed her shield over her body and curtsied before standing erect, shield still crossed over. "My name is Cylonilia," she addressed the others, "I am the Elemental General of Wind."

No one could see the cruel smile upon Knil's face behind his helmet as he eyed his master's new general.

**End of Chapter 3**

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><p><strong>(AN: Before I get swarmed with questions let me answer a few I think I'm going to get a lot: 1. No, Trixie is not going to be useless. For once Link actually has a competent sidekick. 2. Yes Knil is supposed to be the Dark Link of this saga, which is why his name is Link's name backwards. The difference in pronunciation is holding down the letter 'n' a little while longer than if you were to say nil, a synonym to nothing. 3. If this were an actual game Camilia's horse would be a side quest in which Link would get a shovel and actually dig a grave. 4. Knil would be a hopeless boss fight if the last statement was true as well. 5. Trixie **_**is**_** meant to be the "second-option love interest". 6. I am not answering why Knil is smiling about Cylonilia. If you're smart you'll figure it out and I'm not answering too many questions about Keisa either. So that's the chapter. If the mood strikes maybe I'll write more, but I have a burning need to write more Soul Chess and maybe finish Tales of Bleach: Blades of Destiny. For now, I hope this was enjoyable and I'm not giving up on this series, it's just that I have other series that are higher priority. I will continue this story. C u folks later).**


	4. Dragon Pact

**(A/N: Hai guise, miss me? I'm rather far ahead of schedule with Soul Chess and while I should be writing Blades of Destiny, I just had a flash of inspiration to write this and this is why I have so many projects: so I can pick and choose what I want to write depending on the mood I'm in. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy chapter 4 of the Legend of Zelda, Dragon's Roar).**

Disclaimer: I am not the owner of the Legend of Zelda franchise

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><p><strong>Ganon's Castle<strong>

After Ganondorf dismissed his elemental generals, Cylonilia made her way to where Zelda was being held captive. The princess was in the castle's lowest dungeon. Ganondorf had not yet acquired the means of utilizing the power he needed Zelda for, so he decided to let her live comfortably: as comfortably as one could live an irremovable anti-magic collar while sitting in a cold, stone dungeon.

Zelda could do naught but sleep constantly and eat the meals she was brought. Ganondorf didn't need her starving to death and Zelda would never let herself die of starvation so long as there was hope that Link would come rescue her. Cylonilia walked in front of Zelda's cage. "It's good to see you in one piece."

Zelda, who had been resting on the stone slab that was her bed, heard the voice and approached the magic wall that kept her boxed inside the dungeon. She recognized the voice. "C-Camilia?"

"It's Cylonilia now," the general said as she pulled down her hood revealing her long tangerine locks and former identity as Lieutenant Camilia.

"Camilia, I don't care what sort of alias you were given. You are a member of my guard and you will do as I command," Zelda ordered.

Cylonilia banged the back of her fist against the wall and lightning shot forth, surged into Zelda's collar and shocked her and forced her to her knees in pain. "I don't serve you. I serve Ganondorf."

"You've," Zelda heaved, "been brainwashed."

Cylonilia laughed. "Brainwashed? I joined his lordship of my own free will, Zelda. You see, he doesn't need to kill you to get what he wants." Cylonilia put her hand on the barrier. "When everything is all over, I will have you to myself." She banged on the wall again and shocked Zelda again. "You could've prevented this Princess Zelda, you could have chosen me, but you chose that commoner filth instead."

"So that's what this is about," Zelda mumbled to herself.

"It's always been you and Link. Well no more, I won't let him take you from me. You're mine, Princess Zelda. I was raised to serve you. It's my duty, not his. He wouldn't even be in the army if Commandant Bastion hadn't born witness to his skill. I am the only one capable of protecting you."

"Yet you would see me harmed."

"You won't feel a thing. Ganondorf said I could protect you when he has conquered the world."

Zelda's face turned cross. "You talk about knighthood, but you are no more knightly than a darknut."

"How dare you!" Cylonilia banged her fist hard on the barrier and sent even more volts into Zelda's body.

A hand reached out and placed a hand on Cylonilia's shoulder. The wind general looked behind her to see Keisa. "His lordship wants Zelda alive. Control your temper, Cyolnilia."

Cyolnilia cleared her throat and fixed her collar. "Yes, of course. I don't know what came over me."

"Lord Ganondorf would like your assistance in the kitchen in preparing our guests' meals."

"Understood," Cylonilia prepared to leave.

"Camilia, wait!"

"Camilia is no more. Knil killed her. I am Cylonilia, general to Ganondorf Dragmire. You'd best remember that. You will see though. You will see that I am the only one capable of protecting you when I manage to kill the man you asked to be your knight," Cylonilia then climbed the winding staircase back to the upper levels of the castle.

Keisa watched her go and then turned her attention to Zelda. "If it was up to me you'd be naked with your arms strung up along the wall. Be thankful that his lordship is so kind to you."

Zelda was taken aback by Keisa's tone. The light general's hatred seemed personal for some reason. "If it were up to me," Keisa looked over his shoulder and stared at Zelda with a menacing eye, "I would show you the lowest pits of hell possible and you would feel true despair." Keisa then marched up and away from Zelda leaving the princess to wonder what in the world that was about.

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><p><strong>Death Mountain Base<strong>

Link, Trixie and Epona headed up the mountain trail, taking note of the Gorons, all of them in good spirits. As their altitude increased, Trixie and Link began hearing the latest Goron gossip. Apparently the gorons had captured a thief and had locked them in a stone prison. Curious, Link asked for directions towards the prison to see this so called prisoner. Sitting in the dark with her arms chained to a wall and her legs attached to two chains connected to two large boulders, there sat a young woman with tan skin and red hair in a very bushy ponytail with a golden hair clip used to create the ponytail. At the front of her head she had a widow's peak and red eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless pink leotard that went almost down to her knees and terminated into frilly cuffs. On the left side of the leotard there was a design of blue triangles running vertically down her body. Off the sides of her legs there were two ribbons attached shaped like flames. She was wearing a gold-plated choker around her neck. On her feet she was wearing laced up, orange leather boots. There was a locked chest nearby her and she seemed puzzled as if trying to find a way to get herself uncaptured.

An armored goron stood by the shallow cave where she was residing in. "We captured this woman as she was trying to take the goron's sacred treasure, goro." The goron said, upon sighting Link's party. "Don't even think about releasing her or we'll lock you up to, goro."

Since the goron didn't say that Link couldn't at least talk to the thief, Link dismounted Epona and went up to the young woman to speak with her. Trixie followed.

"Hmmm, what's this? Those rock munching giants capture you too?"

"Sorry, but we're not thieves," Trixie said, folding her arms.

The woman chuckled. "Of course you aren't." She crossed her legs and glanced upward at the ceiling. "I can't believe they tied me down like this. I wasn't stealing much, only 50 rupees." The young woman looked at the treasure chest nearby her. "Even went and locked up my power bracelets they did. If I had those on I could bust myself out of here in no time." She looked back up and sighed. "What I wouldn't give for some freedom." She looked at Link and Trixie. "Well then if you two aren't here as prisoners, what are you here for?"

"My partner here is a knight of Hyrule and the prophesized vanquisher of Giganolais."

"Oh yeah, heard about that. It's one of the reasons I ran off from home."

"Where is home?" Trixie asked her.

"I guess you sky fairies don't know much about defining species by their appearance. Can't you tell from the tan skin and the skimpy clothes? I'm a Gerudo…or half so anyway. My father was Hylian."

"But…" Link began indicating that since the Gerudo were an all-female species, with only one male born every hundred years, wouldn't most of them be half breeds.

"You…really don't want to know the details," the gerudo woman said. "It would blow your mind."

"Well, I think we've wasted enough time here, Link," Trixie said to him, "Let's get going."

"W-wait, you're just going to leave me here?" the girl asked.

"Well you're a thief, what do you think? We're not exactly looking to make enemies of the gorons."

The girl blew a strand of hair that came too close to her eye. "Yeah, but you just said tunic boy here is the prophesized vanquisher of the chaos dragon. You ever think maybe _some_ of us would like to help, given the chance?"

"We don't need help from thieves," Trixie snapped. "Come on Link, let's go."

Link brought his finger to his chin and thought carefully about the situation before responding with. "She could prove useful."

"What? Liiiink!" Trixie whined.

"Yes! Yes. Yes," the girl nodded her head. "See I knew you were a man with an eye for talent. But yeah, going against the gorons would be a bad idea. So here's the deal, talk to the elder and see if you can't barter for my release, mmkay? I promise if you get me free I'll help you in any way I can."

"It's a deal," Link told her.

"I'd shake your hand, but that's kind of impossible. Snap to it tunic boy, I crave to stand in the sunlight."

With that, Link and Trixie headed off to meet with the goron elder about freeing the strange half-gerudo girl. They had to trek up the entire mountain pathway and across a narrow naturally formed bridge with large sharp rocks adorned on either side of it, forming guard rails that even a giant could use for balance if he tripped. The elder of the gorons, Saruna, made his residence out in the open, behind a fire pit, in front of a fancy tent, along with some other gorons, most of them eating rocks.

At the edge of the settlement there was a locked gate that led to slanted path angled to go to a lower altitude and subsequently the Fire Temple. Link spoke with the elder.

"Hmm, travelers? This is quite rare for our tribe. What brings you here…?" Link gave the goron his name. "Link? Judging by your clothes and your equipment I take it you're a Hylian Knight. So, Sir Link, what can I do you for?" Link explained to Saruna the situation regarding the captured woman. "Hmm, you want to release our prisoner into your custody. Why should I do something like that?"

"Because I am the prophesized vanquisher of Giganolais," Link answered.

"Wahahaha!" Saruna laughed. "Surely you jest. Even if I were to don my ancestors armor and pick up our sacred hammer, even I could not hope to stand against the mighty dragon of chaos. What makes you think a scrawny Hylian young man like yourself stands any better a chance."

"Because he's the man chosen by my people's prophecy. He is supposed to overcome harrowing trials and defeat Giganolais."

"Ah, a wind fairy, we don't see very many of your kind around here. Hmmm, you believe this boy is part of your people's prophecy, eh, goro? Well, let's see you both put your money where your mouth is. Ahead is the path to the Fire Temple. If you can prove your worth as the 'prophesized hero', I'll grant any request within my power to grant. How does that sound?"

"I hope you're prepared to fork over a lot then," Trixie teased.

"Wahaha," Saruna laughed again, "You've got confidence, young lady, I like that. I wish you both the best of luck. I feel you're going to need.

That was the last thing Saruna told Trixie and Link before he asked one of the other gorons to open the gate to the temple. Link and Trixie headed down the path until they reached a river of lava. Epona whinnied in her displeasure and refused to move forward, even to hop onto the small rising slabs of stone in the middle of the lava flows. Link and Trixie had no problem though. The knight had no trouble jumping from platform to platform and he and Trixie continued like nothing was wrong.

Link and Trixie crossed a rickety bridge over a large gorge that ended in what appeared to be a whole ocean of lava. The bridge was shaky, but it was stable enough to cross without any trouble. The real trouble came when the entrance to the temple was visible, but it was across a much shallower canyon with lava at the bottom. Link looked around and took notice of the overhanging rock formations jutting up out of the ground. The formations were all spread out in an X-formation towards the top with very thin edges. Link took out his grappling hook and twirled it. Link launched the grappling hook forward and, as he suspected, he managed to get it to secure itself around the rocks. By using his grappling hook, Link was able to successfully swing his way across the canyon. Trixie simply flew across. She could have just as easily flown Link across by carrying him, but it would've really tired her out and Link felt he'd need her to help him fight his enemies.

Link and Trixie entered the temple and in the first room found that the temple was crawling with dodongos and keeses. Trixie and Link burst into action. Link had studied monster lore enough to know that Dodongo's weak points were their tails. A couple of good slashes and his silver sword forced the scaly beasts to explode. Trixie meanwhile took out the fire keeses with her wind magic. She was easily able to rely on her novice level spells so she didn't have to expel too much magic power.

She and Link continued into the second room which was built like a labyrinth with a low ceiling. At the start of the maze a valve opened in the rock above them and lava began pouring into the room, bringing with it a sense of urgency. Link had only his intuition to rely on as he made his way through the maze. As he ran down the passageways he began to notice strange paintings of eight-pointed stars along the wall in random places. The stars each had different prongs lit up depending on which one Link was looking at. He came up with the guess that, perhaps the direction being pointed as was the direction of the exit. As it turned out, he was right.

Of course, Link and Trixie had just found themselves out of the lava labyrinth and into the gaze of a gigantic dodongo. It snorted at them both. The room they had entered was huge, but this massive creature made it look tiny. Link gulped and ran around to another part of the room as the massive beast charged after him. He began recalling his monster lore. Dodongos of massive size did not have the Achilles heel weakness in their tails and would chase down their prey without remorse. Link knew that his silver sword would not cut it against such a massive creature. He began running around only for Trixie to throw something towards him.

"Link, catch!" A bomb flower landed at his feet and Link saw Trixie standing by the plant where she had plucked it from. "Try throwing that in its mouth."

Taking his partners advice, Link picked up the bomb flower and dodged out of the way as the massive dodongo tried to chomp him. The creature then turned towards him and sucked in a deep breath. Link took that as a cue to throw the plant into the creature's mouth and it ignited within the massive monster. The dodongo shook it off like it was nothing though.

Link ran towards another bomb flower plant in the room only to feel a breeze at the back of his neck. He turned around to see a large whirlwind surrounding the massive monster caused by Trixie's magic. Expending massive amounts of magical energy, Trixie lifted the monster off its feet with enough wind power and slammed it down onto its back. The dodongo's mouth hung open as it gasped for breath. "Quickly Link, gather up all the bomb flowers you can and throw them into its mouth."

Link sprinted around the room and plucked as many bomb flowers as he could, chucking them into the mouth of the creature one by one. After force feeding the monster three more exploding flora it blew up and died. Recognizing Link's success a shaft of light shone down and created a chest in the center of the room. Upon opening the chest, Link was surrounded in a weird orange light. His grappling hook transformed into a wrist mounted chain-hook mechanism with a claw-like head. The mechanism had a flame-like color scheme to it and a carousel loaded chain with a maximum distance of more than 5 times his grappling hook.

"Wow, not bad." Trixie said, admiring the item. "That's a pretty tricked out weapon you got. I bet you could get to all kinds of alcoves and locations with that."

Link nodded and he and Trixie proceeded into the door they hadn't entered from. Inside there was a large gorge that lead straight into lava along with several small platforms and a bullseye above each of them. At the far end of the room there was a door adorned with glass made to look like flames, signaling it as the final room.

"Oh, I see what we have to do here," Trixie said and floated to the first small platform. Try firing your grapple gun thingy at this target, Link."

Link looked at the target, looked at the grapple gun and then looked at the distance between him and the door at the far end of the room. He looked at the rocks above the door and then fired the grapple gun into the ground. The weapon's claw caught hard into the dirt and ripped out a chunk of it. Link tapped his finger to the blades along the claw. Those things were sharp and the bent ridge towards the tip signaled that it could really hook into anything it could penetrate.

So, ignoring Trixie, Link took careful aim and fired the gun as it hooked into the rocks above. Link then tugged a few times to make sure the gun was secure and then let himself get carried over to the door. Trixie was speechless as she caught up with him.

"What? But! You can't do that! You can't just bypass a puzzle like that!" She said, gesturing to the rest of the room behind her and Link with both arms.

"Nothing says I can't," Link quipped.

Trixie sighed, "Let's just see what the guardian is like. I imagine your sword skills are going to be put to the ultimate test."

She and Link entered the final room, finding the corners of the walls adorned with the same fire-resembling glass and the center of the room looking like an arena, which floated over a pit of lava and was connected to the walls by the chains attached to the corners of it. Link stepped towards the center of the arena.

"You, champion of the temple that would seek the great power of this temple, you are about to be tested by the great might of the dragon Argant. As the hero of fate you must embark on this task alone."

"Guess that means I have to sit this one out," Trixie said, sitting by the door and making herself comfortable.

"Prepare yourself, hero of fate. You must defeat me to prove yourself to the dragon, Argant." Suddenly the edges of the arena went up in flames, sealing Link onto the arena. Before him a skeletal warrior with a bone structure like that of the gorons, wearing flaming red and orange armor and wielding a sword imbued with flames and a small buckler, stood before Link. "I am the eternal champion of the gorons, Darmaka, Hero of fate, show me your skill!"

Link whipped out his sword and shield as the battle began. Darmaka charged at Link and swung his sword at him, creating a trail of flame that followed. Link dodged the strike and ran forward towards Darmaka, taking a swing at the inside of the skeletal creature making a precise strike at his pelvic bone before executing a spin attack, which Darmaka blocked with his buckler and was knocked off balance. Link took to the offensive and struck fiercely several times with his sword until Darmaka's back collided into the flaming barrier. The skeletal champion was forcefully teleported to the center of the arena and this time stood still with his shield ready, waiting for Link to come at him.

Sword crossed over his body, Link ran forward and performed his anti-air spin attack as he took to the skies. He then dropped down from the air sword aiming towards the ground. Darmaka jumped back and blocked and sent out a blazing trail of flame towards Link with his blade. Link side jumped the strike and ran up to Darmaka before rolling around him along the ground, jumping up and slicing his chest plate right off by slicing the straps that kept it on the skeleton's body. Link then made several successful strikes at the bones and then, with a fearsome spin attack, sliced Darkmaka in half.

However, the goron champion was not beaten just yet. His individual bones began floating as the sword began flying towards Link, creating a ring of fire as it spun towards him. Link dodged out of the way and tried to get a location on Darmaka's head. He noticed it on the far side of the arena. Switching out to his grapple gun, Link grabbed Darmaka by the helmet, but in the fierce pincers of the claw, it shattered with a bit of pressure. The skull bounced away, desperately avoiding Link as it tried to attack him with its weapon arms and disembodied legs.

Link swiftly dodged and parried each incoming strike before letting loose his grapple gun again at the skeletal head and pulled it towards him. Then with a powerful strike he split the skull in half, taking victory.

The rest of the bones dispersed into blasts of flame. The flame barrier dissipated and the large gate on the other side of the arena shone with magnificent brilliance.

"Well done mortal," Darmaka's disembodied voice called to Link. "You are truly worthy of being the new champion to Argant. Take what it is you have come for."

The gate opened and inside there was a stone statue of Argant looming over an altar. Upon the altar there was a bright, orange-red multi-faceted rounded crystal. Link put his weapons away and he and Trixie approached the altar.

Link went up to the crystal and grabbed the crystal. Instantly his silver sword began to glow and wobble. Link unsheathed and the sword flew out of his hand, merging with the crystal. The blade turned orange and became edged on both sides. The handle was now dark red and a gem, the same color as the crystal, was embedded in the hilt. The sword floated in front of Link. He picked it up and hoisted it above his head.

Link had obtained the Fire Blade. With Argant's powers used to transform Link's silver sword, the weapon was now imbued with Argant's fiery wrath and could now launch forth trails of flame utilized by feelings of righteous fury.

"Right on cue."

Link and Trixie turned around to see a gerudo woman in a red short skirt and a red breastplate barely covering her supple body. She had bushy orange pigtails with red tips and was wearing laced up ruby red fishnet boots on her feet. She wore a gold circlet around her forehead with a ruby embedded in the center.

"Who are you?" Trixie asked, taking a defensive stance.

"Name's Koume, fire general to Lord Ganondorf's armies."

"If you're here to stop us, you're too late," Trixie told her. "Link already obtained the fire crystal."

"Au contraire," Koume stated, stepping forward, swaggering her hips as she did so, "Waiting until that kid obtained the fire crystal works to my advantage. I am a general of fire, the sword burns with such bright flames that I am resistant to your attacks now." Link scowled. "Also waiting until after you clashed with the temple guardian has left you tuckered out a little. HA!" Koume set a fire barrier between Link, Trixie and the exit. "This shrine will be your tomb. With my fire I will burn you both to your bones." Koume caught on fire and suddenly her hair was blazing hot and fire crackled along her hands. "Let's have some fun, kid." With a twirl she teleported and attacked Link from behind with a fireball. Link dodged out of the way.

Trixie attacked with her wind magic, sending gusts of wind at Koume, knocking her back with every shot. Link ran around and sliced at the Koume from behind, but barely made a scratch.

"I told you," Koume said, telekinetically lifting Link off his feet and throwing him, "That won't work."

Link screamed as he was thrown back and caught fire. He rolled around on the ground to put out the flames.

"Take this!" Trixie said, conjuring up some powerful magic, "Spiral Twister!"

A gust of wind shot up from beneath Koume's feet and sent her hurtling into the air. She was about to have a harsh landing from gravity, but she teleported and attacked Trixie. Link however was quick enough on his feet to block with his shield.

Link looked back at Trixie momentarily and nodded and she nodded back, understanding his strategy. Since Link's attack would barely impact Koume at all, the two decided Trixie would do most of the legwork while Link defended her from any incoming unfriendly spells.

From the opposite side of the altar Koume unleashed a concentrated blast of flame at Link and Trixie. Link blocked the incoming strike with his shield while Trixie conjured one of her spells. She attacked Koume with some blasts of wind, knocking the sorceress off balance and finally ending with gathering some magic power and creating several blades of air that dove in to strike the No Man's Land twisted Gerudo.

Koume was considerably injured by the strike and that gave Trixie the advantage she needed to prepare the final blow. "Let's see you survive this: Astral Hurricane!" Turbulent winds formed beneath Koume, blowing her around as fierce, powerful blades of wind smashed into her with tremendous force. Koume was thrown to the ground, defeated.

As she caught her breath, and Trixie did the same from using such a powerful spell, the sorceress lamented her failure. "Damn, that was such high level wind magic. Who are you?"

"Trixie Mescearl, princess of Hyrule's sky fairies."

Koume panted. "Hah, hah, I see. I dreadfully underestimated you."

"If I had been at full power this would've been over in seconds."

"Au contraire, I took it easy on you. Next time I will show no mercy. I must report this to Lord Ganondorf." Koume then disappeared.

Trixie then dropped to her hands and knees. "You okay?" Link asked her.

"I'll be fine. I probably shouldn't have used such a high level spell when my magic isn't at full power. We'll have to make a visit to the kingdom soon or I'll just be dead weight to you. Just give me a few minutes to catch my breath. Finish the pact with Argant."

"How do I do that?"

"See the altar where the crystal was. There's an insert for your sword. Place your sword in the pedestal and you will be able to complete the pact."

Link walked forward, but saw that Trixie was still slumped over.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," she told him, "The pact is most important right now."

Link went over to the altar and placed his sword in the pedestal. Instantly there was a fierce rumbling as the eyes of Argant's statue began flowing with lava into the mouth of the statue which poured into an indent in the floor that then surrounded the pedestal. Orange-red light surrounded Link and stretched towards the ceiling and everything went white.

When Link could see again, he was in a very strange place. It looked like the temple, but everything was new and laiden with crystals and there were tall windows strewn about the shrine that showed that the shrine was isolated and surrounded by the inside of an active volcano. However, the most obvious difference was that Argant's statue was no longer a statue.

Instead, in place of the stone statue was a large, red dragon with triangular spikes running down its back and tail. Each of the dragons' claws had three talons and it had three bones in its thin wings. It had an elongated jaw and a thick torso. Its horns extended far back like a cat with its ears bent backwards. It had a set of three smaller horns along the opposite end of its mandible heading towards its neck. The dragon's mouth was full of sharp, pointed teeth. Link wasn't even bigger than the dragon's head. This was, without a doubt, Argant.

"Well done, mortal, you have proven your courage and become my champion." Argant spoke to Link, standing tall with its forelegs fully extended and its hind legs bent with his tail curled clockwise towards Link with the tip stopping just in front of Argant's left forward claw. "I congratulate you and accept this pact, which we have made. Let it be known that you, hero of fate, have selected I, Argant, the Fire Dragon, to be your partner to vanquish the dragon of chaos. But first, let my roar empower your spirit."

Argant tilted his head towards the ceiling and roared loudly. Link glowed with a bright orange glow as his fatigue disappeared. Argant looked back at Link. "With my power added to yours, by stealing your spirit you can restore your fatigue, though damage you have suffered will still take its full course. And now, Link, Hero of Fate, let us return together to your world."

In a flash of light Link was back in the temple. In the next moment, Argant's statue began cracking until the beast himself broke free of the stone prison and was there in its stead. Argant shook off the gravel and dust. He extended his wings and flapped them twice. He then roared and his roar opened the ceiling revealing the sky above. Argant walked forward towards Link. "Ah, how good it feels to finally be able to leave the land of the dragons after so many years. I'll be able to stretch my wings. What's say I start by carrying you and your friend here to wherever it is you want to go? As your partner it is my solemn duty to aide you in any way I can."

"So I get a dragon for a partner? Cool," Link admired.

"Indeed," Argant said and lowered his wing for Link and Trixie to climb aboard. "My wings may look frail, but the cartilage is quite firm. Don't be afraid, climb aboard."

Link and Trixie loaded up onto Argant and took to the skies. Link was in awe of the landscape of Hyrule from being so high up in the air.

"So beautiful," Trixie took note, "I normally don't fly at this altitude. This is amazing."

"Your world is very aesthetically pleasing," Argant said to her and Link, "That is why we visit and why we balance it. We love this world as many of you do. Now then, where shall I take you?"

Link directed Argant to the Goron's camp where Saruna stood in shock as the dragon lowered himself. Argant inquired if the horse he had seen as he made his way here belonged to Link, to which Link acknowledged that it was. Argant wanted to know if, now that Link had him for transport if he'd like Epona returned to the stables. Link agreed. With that Argant flapped his wings and took off, signaling that he'd be back soon.

Link then went to talk to Saruna.

"I don't believe my eyes, was that Argant the Fire Dragon?" Saruna asked.

"It was now, pay up," Link said, rubbing the truth in Saruna's face.

"Of course, of course, I'll keep my end of the deal. To think you truly were the here of fate. I'm absolutely amazed. Of course as the hero I'll grant any request I can. Just don't take advantage of my generosity."

"We want the Gerudo girl set free."

"Ah, yes of course. Saruna turned around and plucked a key from the rock in his tent. "Here, this key will open the chest near her. The item in there should allow her to free herself. However, if she steals anything again, I'm going to hold you responsible."

Link obtained the chest key, which allowed him to open the chest to free the gerudo girl. He opened the chest and found a pair of bracelets inside.

"Oh, hey, my bracelets! That old rock muncher gave you the key to that chest huh? Quick, give them here!"

Link handed the girl the bracelets and she slipped them onto her wrists, but they seemed rather big on her as they loosely hung on her forearms, but that seemed to be all she needed to rip off her wrist shackles. Her bracelets then hugged tightly to her wrists as she slipped them on.

With a fierce yank, the girl ripped her legs free from the chain that bound her to the boulders. She then ripped the anklets off her with her bare hands.

The girl then wiped her brow. She then put her left hand on her hip. "Whew, much better." She smiled widely at Link. "Thanks a lot tunic boy, I owe you one."

"Don't forget your part of the deal," Link told her.

"Darn, and here I thought I could slip one by you. You're sharp, I like that. So since we're going to be working together, let's exchange proper greetings. What's your name tunic boy?" the girl asked him. Link gave the half-gerudo his name. "Link huh?" The girl extended her arm towards him. "Name's Din, nice to meet you." Link shook her hand. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

She turned towards Trixie. "And what's your name?"

"Trixie Mescearl, Princess of the Sky Fairies," Trixie told her extending her arm for a handshake, which Din readily accepted. "You better watch yourself though, Miss Thief, Link here's a knight of Hyrule. Commit any crimes and he'll haul you into jail."

"I wouldn't dream of causing trouble for you guys after you just got me set free. Although," She shifted her gaze upwards and put her right index finger on her chin. "If it's not too much trouble I do have one request."

"What's the matter?" Link asked.

Din put both her hands on her hips. "It's regarding the reason I was chained down in the first place. I came to Death Mountain hoping to snag the goron's sacred treasure, the Megaton Hammer. With my power bracelets I can lift pretty much anything. I figured that hammer would be good for defending myself. I have some fire magic too, but it's not as potent as say," she gestured her hip towards Trixie, "a princess of the sky fairies. I'm only a mid-level spellcaster."

"We pretty much have the goron elder in our pocket. I'm sure there's no harm in asking."

"Hey, he did say not to take advantage of his generosity."

"Yay," Din pumped her fists as she took one of her legs off the ground for a moment, "I knew you were a good guy, Link." Din said, putting her left arm on her hip and letting her right arm hang at her side.

"Well, as long as we're still waiting for Argant, I guess we might as well go and ask."

"Argant? Did you guys get another partner before you came to free me? Speaking of which," Din looked towards the mouth of the cave with the side of her hand over her eyes, "what happened to your horse?"

"We sort of…upgraded," Link joked.

"Oh, well I guess I'll see when I see then," Din said. "Come on," she darted out into the sunshine where Link and Trixie followed. Din then stretched her arms up over her head. "Ah sunshine, so warm." She then yawned. "Well, no use dillydallying, let's go."

Link, Trixie and Din headed back up the mountain pathway towards Saruna's encampment and Link asked for Saruna about possibly being given the Megaton Hammer.

"WHAAT?" Saruna thundered causing a couple of the gorons to turn their heads. "You want me to turn over my people's sacred treasure? I-I know I said to grant any request, but I also said not to take advantage of my generosity."

Din put a hand on her hip. "Oh come on, do you really need to keep it locked up in the vault like that? We're on a journey to vanquish a dragon of chaos. We should get any advantage we could need, don't you think?"

"I doubt the hero of fate could even wield it. It's quite heavy."

"Din said she could wield it."

"WHAAAAT?" Saruna bellowed again. "You would put the sacred treasure in the hands of this thief?"

"Din's loyalty is to me. Also, I'm a knight. If she does anything suspicious, I'll arrest her on the spot," Link told Saruna.

Saruna sighed. "Well, when you put it like that. I suppose there's no harm in handing it over. At least try to see if you can wield it first." Saruna looked towards one of the gorons loitering about. "You there! Bring the sacred treasure here, goro!"

"Right away, goro!"

The megaton hammer was brought before Link, Din and Trixie on a smooth, polished rock. Link went to pick the hammer up only to struggle with all his might. He struggled several times, but could barely make the hammer budge.

"Link, are you even trying?" Trixie asked. "That hammer is smaller than your sword. How heavy can it be?"

"Wahaha!" Saruna laughed. "The Megaton Hammer isn't called the Megaton Hammer for no reason. It weighs several tons. Some of the members of our tribe have trouble just lifting it. That's why we leave it on our sacred stone. The hammer is hard to lift on its own, but on a separate surface it can be lifted as if it weighs nothing at all."

"Yeah well, watch a master at work." Din said enthusiastically. She rubbed her hands together on one side of her body and then rubbed them on the other side. Then, smiling politely she reached down and firmly grasped the hammer and lifted it with ease.

"G-GOROOOOOO!" Both the goron that had brought the hammer and Saruna were shocked as Din wielded the incredibly heavy hammer with ease, even juggling it like it weighed as much as a 3lb dumbbell. "H-how is she doing thaaaaaaat?!" Saruna bellowed.

Din chuckled mischievously. "Kishishi," she smiled and held up her arm, pointing to her bracelet with a single finger. "These bracelets are a lot more augmentative than you thought, huh?"

"G-goro," Saruna stuttered.

"With these bracelets, as long as it's not nailed down I can lift practically anything. Din then took one of the ribbons on her outfit and tied the hammer to it to create a makeshift sheathe. "There, that should secure it properly for now, though I should really get a proper harness attachment or something."

"Will that be everything?" Saruna asked.

Link took out his rupee wallet and showed how empty it was.

"Hmm, that's an awfully small wallet. I think we can properly accommodate you for that. Now _that_ isn't any trouble. And while I'm at it, as you said, you should get every advantage you can. Let me get you a bomb bag capable of holding our special crop and regular bombs as well. It should prove useful."

In no time at all, Link was outfitted with a bigger wallet and nearly 1,000 rupees as well as a goron-patented bomb bag with twenty bombs in it. By this time Argant's shadow was looming overhead. "Look's like our ride's here," Trixie noted.

"Good luck you three, especially you, Hero of Fate. Come back if there's anything more I can do for you."

With that Link signaled Argant to land. "Wow, nice ride," Din said jumping onto Argant's back. Link and Trixie saddled up onto Argant and the large dragon took into the air.

"Where to, my master?" Argant asked Link.

"Link, I don't mean to be a bother," Trixie said to him, "But it would be nice if we could go to my kingdom, I need to replenish my magic power, plus we are the keepers of one of the dragon crystals."

"It's a very humble request, though it is entirely up to you master? Shall we set course for the Sky Kingdom?"

Link pointed over the horizon, up above the clouds and let out a grunt, indicating where he wanted Argant to fly.

"Understood, Sky Kingdom, here we come." And with that, Argant took off into the air.

* * *

><p><strong>Ganon's Castle<strong>

"I see, so he is being aided by one of the sky fairies," Ganondorf said as he faced the stained glass wall of his grand hall. Koume was behind him, kneeling before him in allegiance and apology. Koete was standing nearby, listening in as were Knil, Keisa and Cylonilia with the two latter down by the hall entrances and Knil standing with his back against the wall across from Ganondorf's left side.

"Please forgive my error of judgment, Lord Ganondorf. I would not have taken them so lightly if I had known he was being aided by such a powerful ally."

"You are pardoned this once," Ganondorf told her. "Do not fail me again."

"I told you, you should have sent me," Knil stated, "I don't show any mercy."

"Koume is faster on her feet and if she had acted according to plan the hero would be dead. Still, if the princess used such a powerful spell to defeat you, she would obviously have to go to the sky kingdom to rest."

Cylonilia pushed off the wall, "Shall I go and pursue them then my lord?"

"No, let them go. The time they spend there will let me spread my influence across Hyrule's lands. Keisa?"

"Ahn?" Keisa stated, acknowledging being called upon.

"I have heard Commandant Bastion is looking for the princess. I want you to intercept him and eliminate him."

"It shall be done," Keisa said and began to leave.

"Anything I can do my lord?" Knil asked, getting down on one knee.

"Nothing for now Knil, though I appreciate the readiness you show. You are all dismissed."

With that Ganondorf's generals left, leaving Ganondorf alone. He parted the stained glass wall with his magic and entered a hidden chamber within his palace, leading to a winding staircase that he climbed up and allowed him to survey No Man's Land. "So, Hero of Fate, you have managed to collect a single crystal. Don't get too assured of yourself. Rest assured before you have collected all eight, I will have you and your allies eliminated." Ganondorf then reared back his head and let out a dark, manic laugh. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued…<strong>

**(A/N: And that'll about do it for chapter 4. I've now added Din to the party and before anyone asks I have the feeling she won't be the last to join. As with any Zelda game: expect a harem lol. However, if this was an actual Zelda game there'd be dialogue options allowing you to earn or gain approval from your party members to ultimately seek out an alternate romance from Zelda. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have some studying to do before my exam at 6:30. Au revoir, my dear readers. See you next time).**


	5. Kingdom of the Sky

**(A/N: One exam down, several more to go. Let's see how well this turns out).**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda

* * *

><p><strong>The skies above Hyrule<strong>

As Argant flapped his wings towards the Sky Kingdom, as if instinctively knowing where it was, Link, Trixie and Din sat on his large back, waiting for him to reach the kingdom. Trixie sat with her legs outstretched while Din sat with her arms around Link with her head against the back of his head, smiling widely, giggling like a little schoolgirl, much to Trixie's annoyance.

"Thanks for taking me with you on your journey," Din said to Link with a smile. Link just smiled and scratched his cheek.

"You know you don't have to hold onto him," Trixie said, with a sour tone.

"Easy for you to say," Din looked back at her, "You can fly."

"So why aren't you holding onto me then?" Trixie asked with a smirk.

"If I fall, Link has that grappling gun he can catch me with." She looked back at Trixie. "I don't know if I could trust you to do the same."

"Trust isn't earned so easily. I still don't understand why Link was so ready to ask you to come along."

"Maybe when were in battle next time, you'll change your mind," Din smirked.

"Is that a challenge?" Trixie furrowed her brow.

"Ladies, I hate to interrupt, but we're here," Argant said as he flew into a hole in the cloud cover and revealed a grand city above the clouds. There were tall, white buildings and waterfalls falling into a pool. Sky fairies fluttered about every which way and the entire city was peaceful and clean with rainbows and water and white and—

"This place is so…pure," Din commented as she surveyed the landscape on all fours with the side of her hand on her forehead.

That.

"Well, living above the surface keeps us from experiencing most of the hardships down on the ground like storms, strife and poverty. My people are very peaceful in nature. We learn magic as a means to live and only learn offensive magic as a means to defend ourselves if we go below the surface. I can tell you more about our culture once I've had a good soak in my family's fountain. Speaking of which, I do need to bring you to see my mother anyway, Link."

"Why? Going to try and get tunic boy here to be your arranged husband," Din teased.

"Nothing of the sort!" Trixie humphed, oblivious to the slight blush in her cheeks. "He needs to be recognized as the hero of fate, recognized in my people's prophecy."

"Sure, Trixie, whatever you say," Din chuckled as she leaned back.

Argant circled around for a little while longer until he found a space wide enough for him to dock. The plaza square was plenty big enough for his massive body as he let off Trixie, Link and Din. The other fairies began to gossip and chat amongst themselves, noticing the return of their crown princess and her companions.

"Follow me," Trixie instructed. She let Din and Link up the wide staircase of the plaza to the noble district and into the castle. Inside, the castle seemed to only be a single room, consisting of a few stairs leading up to a platform with more stairs then leading down into a fountain with seashells scattered all about the pool, with beds inside the shells. At the far end of the fountain there was a fairy several time Trixie's size lounging on the inside surface of a glossy pink seashell. She had fair skin and long, gorgeous magenta hair covering her right eye. She was wearing a leotard with a seaweed pattern and brown-green stilettos. Her wings were magnificent and almost as big as she was. She had four pairs of these magnificent, translucent wings, pink-silver wings. Her eyes were olive green and she was wearing red eye shadow and has luscious red lips. She smiled at Link and his companions.

"Ahhhh, you've returned, Trixie, and I see you've brought the Hero of Fate, just as I requested."

"Yes indeed."

"And who's our other guest?"

"This is Din, she's a gerudo thief."

"_Half_ gerudo," Din corrected.

Trixie's mother chuckled. "Well any companion of my daughter and the Hero of Fate is certainly welcome in my city."

"You're sure he's the one?"

"Aren't you? You brought him here," Trixie's mother chuckled.

"I was just following the description," Trixie spoke to her mother. "He passed the first trial, but only you can confirm if he is truly the Hero of Fate."

"Who can say?" Trixie's mother said.

"Huh?" Trixie was confused.

"Heroes are not born, they're made. If this young man can complete the other trials then fate and the dragons will recognize him as the prophesized hero. The Hero of Fate can only be truly determined by his accomplishments. I can no more confirm his ability or status than you can. All we can do is believe and let our beliefs guide him to accomplish the achievements he is prophesized to do."

"Trixie, why don't you stay here and recuperate. I can see it in your eyes. You wish to travel with this young man and see his growth for yourself. I'd never be able to live with myself if I quashed such determination. You wish to bathe in the fountain to maximize your magic potential. Come," Trixie's mother beckoned. "Rest for a while."

"Yes mother," Trixie said, stripping down to her underwear and entered the fountain and made her way towards a blue seashell with thick, violet stripes along the top. "I'll see you two later. For now I need to rest." She entered the shell as it enclosed her and sank into the fountain."

"So, what should we do while we wait for our little princess here?" Din said, folding her arms.

"You might consider going to the dojo to meet with Thalassa. She is the guardian of the wind crystal. She can also help you hone your skills, Link." Link gasped at Trixie's mother knowing his name. Then again, Trixie had said his name was mentioned in the prophecy.

"I'll send a messenger to find you two when Trixie is restored. For now, enjoy your stay here and if you need anything you need only to ask."

With that Link and Din meandered about the town, taking in the sights. At Trixie's mother's request, Link made straight for the Dojo.

He was surprised though when what he saw was not what he expected. Thalassa was a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a blue, crystalline breastplate and a dancer's fauld. She had thigh high, armored boots and gauntlets of the same metal as her breastplate but her gauntlets only went up to her wrists. Behind her back, down by her curvaceous ass, she had a rapier sheathed with the handle angled towards her left side. She had brown eyes and a very fit figure.

"You're…hylian," Link noted.

"One does not need to be related to a people by blood to be their sworn guardian. We guardians are eternal in our lives, though some of us have retained our youth and beauty in the process. My name is Thalassa Windarr, guardian of wind. Judging by your clothes, young hylian, you must be a knight of Hyrule. Am I to understand that you are also the Hero of Fate?"

"So I am led to believe," Link uttered.

"I see. Then step into my arena if you believe you can take me on." Thalassa looked at Din. "You will need to stand back."

Din nodded and stood in the entry way while Link entered Thalassa's dojo arena. Thalassa unsheathed her blade and with both hands on the handle, extended it towards the sky. Glistening barriers formed around the dojo, sealing her and Link in. She stood by with her left leg crossed over her right and traded her sword to her right hand. "Whenever you're ready, hon."

Link drew out his sword and shield and ran forward to strike. Before he'd gotten even halfway to Thalassa she disappeared and he completely lost sight of her. The next thing he knew he had been struck across the back and Thalassa was at his 2 o' clock, back facing him. Link made a leaping strike at her, but Thalassa pirouetted out of the way and then struck at his sword side. Link turned his body and put up his shield to block. He grunted in regards to how forceful and powerful her blow was.

Thalassa then backflipped a few times towards the other side of the arena and launched off a gust of wind at Link, sending him flying into the wall. Link got up with a grunt of pain and prepared to strike again, but Thalassa soon had him pinned down with her blade against his throat.

"I don't think you're quite yet ready to take me on, kid," she told him.

"Whoa, she's good," Din muttered from over where she was.

Thalassa got up from Link and walked back towards the center of the arena. However, Link wasn't about to take his defeat lying down. He dug into his mind and entered his adrenaline hyped state, a state of mind he only used when trying to critically injure an enemy or defend another. With a fierce rush towards Thalassa he ran at her. She barely had time to dodge since he had caught her off guard. Thalassa backflipped and stood on one hand and struck at Link's legs, but he backflipped out of the way. As Thalassa returned to her feet, Link put both hands on his sword and swung wide at her waist as he neared her, not letting his momentum cease, performing his rushing strike attack. Thalassa was pushed back.

"Not bad," she smirked. She fired several blasts of wind at Link which he swatted away with his blade into the barrier Thalassa leapt high into the air and dove at Link from the air like a dolphin aiming for water. Link moved out of the way. Link then performed some quick, fierce stabbing thrusts at Thalassa, but she recovered to her feet way to quickly and successfully blocked every last stab before slashing upwards with her blade and creating a blast of pressurized wind that knocked Link off his feet and sent him slamming into the wall. Thalassa was on him in an instant and Link barely got out of the way, but she took to the offensive, her blows incredibly fast and hard to counter. Link couldn't even find an opening to execute his rolling parry.

In a flash Thalassa was gone and smashed the hilt of her sword into Link's back above the injury she had left and then kicked him with her boot and then moved quick as could be and created a horizontal arc of wind and sent Link flying and into the ground. Link tried to get up and steal himself to use the special technique Argant had taught him, but it was pointless, he could barely move his body. Thalassa had thoroughly beaten him.

Thalassa put her sword away and went over to Link to help him to his feet. "You're a good swordsman kid," she said to him. Link took her hand and got to his feet. "But I don't think you're ready to take me on yet. You're not skilled enough. Come back when you have at least three other crystals and then maybe you might stand a better chance. As you are now, there's no way you can beat me."

"One more time," Link said in earnest.

"Not in your condition we're not," Thalassa scolded. "Go to the inn and rest. When you've recuperated come back here whenever you'd like. You may not be ready to face me, but there are some things I can teach you. Your swordsmanship is good, but wholly unrefined."

"Over here Link," Din called to him. Link nodded and headed over to Din who let her lean on him because of his fatigue. She shouldered him to the inn. The queen had sent word ahead to the innkeeper so Link and Din didn't have to pay a single rupee and were given the penthouse suite.

Upstairs in his bedroom, Link sat on the bed, thinking of Zelda and how much it bothered him that he had been beaten so easily like that. He punched the mattress in frustration. A knock came to his door.

"Who is it?" Link asked.

"It's me," Din answered, "May I come in?"

"Sure," Link answered.

Din opened the door and shut it behind her.

"Anything wrong?" Link asked her.

"Nothing's wrong, per say," Din said as she strolled over to the recliner, "I just realized that you and Trixie never explained to me the journey we're on. I know I said I'd help in any way I could and I stand by that, but I need to know what exactly I've gotten myself into."

Link explained to Din about the whole adventure up to this point and what he had set out to do on the order of his captain. By the end of it, Din was laying down on her stomach on the king sized bed in Link's room, while he sat up straight, having explained the whole thing to her.

"Oho, I see so your Princess Zelda's _personal_ guard, eh?" Din asked with a sly smirk. "Gonna take advantage of that?"

"You know it," Link responded.

Din laughed and rolled onto her back. She smiled deviously. "Despite being a man of the law, you're willing to go against the royal decree that says the princess can't marry out of royalty eh?"

"How do you know about that?" Link asked.

"My dad's a Hylian remember?" Din inquired. "I see him from time to time when he visits the desert. It's been a long time with the last visit though. Of course, from what you've told me, it sounds like it'll be a while before I see him again even if I had stayed in the desert." Din sighed. "I wish my mother had convinced him to stay, stupid dad." She sat up. "Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him or anything, but…"

"So your parents aren't married?"

"No," Din said looking at the mattress. "What about you? What are your parents like?"

"I'm an orphan," Link answered.

"Oh…I see," Din stated. After a short pause she was laying on her back again with her right leg bent as she looked at the chandelier. "Say Link, I know you've got your heart set on rescuing Princess Zelda, but do you like her…like that?"

"I guess so," Link said.

Din sighed.

"Something the matter?"

"I was just thinking," Din smiled again, "You're on this journey with two attractive females, you ever thought of looking elsewhere for some…excitement? You and the princess aren't exactly going steady, you know."

"What are you implying?" Link asked, wincing slightly.

Din sat up and strolled over to Link, looming over him and getting well within his personal space. "Trixie's not here to bother us. What do you say, tunic boy? Wanna explore the mysteries of the desert?"

"I might be interested."

Din planted her forehead against Link's and breathed on him. Her hot breath wafted onto his face and he could smell the scent of the desert on her. "You're so handsome," Din said, running her hand along Link's cap. "And I'm really horny. What do you say?"

Link had a choice to make. He liked Zelda that went without saying, but here was this young, supple girl, throwing herself at him. And there was also Trixie to consider and who knew who else might join him along his journey. Still, it wasn't as if he found Din unattractive and with her there wasn't any boundary of status between them. He couldn't help, but wonder though if Din was just using him for sex or actually liked him.

Still, as she had said, he and Zelda weren't exactly a couple, mostly due to the law. He didn't have to be _that_ kind of bodyguard, but then again he had always seen Zelda as the apple of his eye.

Things were incredibly complicated and Link had no idea how to uncomplicated them at the moment. So he just went with the easiest solution.

Rather than responding in words, Link leaned up and kissed Din. Din was surprised momentarily by his response having expected on in words, but all the while found Link's response preferable. Her eyes turned lustful and she made out with Link. The two tumbled over and Link was about to push Din down on her back and begin "exploring the mysteries of the desert" when there was a knock on the door, effectively killing the mood.

Din now had the most annoyed expression on her face. "Whaaaat?" she called, annoyed.

"Forgive my interruptions, but I'm looking for a Miss Din and a Mr. Link."

"What do you want, we're kind of busy in here," Din called out.

"I have a message from her majesty the queen. Princess Trixie is waiting for you both at her home."

"Is that it?" Din asked.

"Yes, I'm leaving," the messenger said and then left.

Din lay back and exasperated a sigh. "Huuh. I should've shut the main door."

"What? That's it?"

"The messenger effectively killed the mood," Din said, rolling away and getting off the bed, "Besides, I'd hate to keep our little princess waiting too long. She'll probably yell at us if we make her wait."

Link smiled. "You actually are a good person deep down."

Din laughed. "Kukuku, what? You thought I was just a naughty little young thing who cared only about herself?" She walked around the bed to get on Link's side. "I'm a little more complex than that, tunic boy." She stood on her tip toes to equal Link's height. "Come closer and you'll find out just how much," she said, pushing on his nose. She walked away. "Now come on, let's get a move on."

Link and Din made their way back to the palace where Trixie was all revitalized and raring to go. No major changes had been made to her except her wings were now showing and full outspread. She had six beautiful winglets, three on each side, in a yellow-pink color. She was also wearing her royal tiara, which was gold plated and adorned with opal gems.

"Very nice," Link complimented.

"You think so?" Trixie said grabbing at the folds of her dress.

"What's the big deal? It's just her wings. What are you into that sort of thing or something?"

"Oh, what? You thought Link might like a flirt like you? I was here first."

"Technically, Zelda was in his life before you and besides I'm much less pampered than you are."

"Break it up you two," Link cut in.

"She started it!" Both women pointed at each other.

Link sighed knowing this was going to be a long journey.

As the two headed to the plaza square, Trixie piped up with, "Oh how'd getting the wind crystal go?"

Link tensed up.

"Tunic boy here got his butt handed to him," Din pointed to Link, "Seems your guardian's made of pretty tough stuff. She said Link should try again when we've got four crystals in total, but she also volunteered for him to retrain at her dojo when he was well rested. Speaking of which," she looked at Link, "We should be going back to the inn for a little while for you to get those injuries patched."

"No need," Trixie said. She cupped her hands and a pink blossom appeared in them. She blew at it and the petals dispersed and multiplied, surrounding Link and revitalizing his stamina, fatigue and injury. Trixie swung her arms behind her back and smiled. "Healing Wind," she explained, "With this spell we won't have to worry about injuries we suffer, though it's only good for out of combat."

"Not bad princess," Din grinned, "Well, Link, you wanna go try and tussle with Thalassa again?"

"Let's go," Link stated.

The trio headed for the dojo where Thalassa was waiting. "So you've returned. And I see the crown princess is with you." She bowed to Trixie. "It is good to see you, my lady."

"Thalassa, did Link really lose as bad as Din said?"

Thalassa placed a hand on her bosom. "My role as a guardian deigns that I should not hold back against one pining for the crystal, even the Hero of Fate himself. However, I will teach him a bit of swordsmanship to increase his ability. It will take time though. You two should find something to do while I train him."

"I'll stay," Trixie said, sitting down, "If Link gets hurt I can heal his injuries and you can train without stopping." As a guardian, Thalassa had unlimited stamina and as she was stronger than Link, the chances of her taking a serious beating were next to none."

"I'm taking this with me," Din said, grabbing Link's bag and yanking out his wallet. "Don't worry I'm not going to spend frivolously. You'll thank me later." She walked out the door with wallet and bag.

"Let us begin then, young knight. I will train you in the ways of the sword."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

Commandant Bastion was currently taking up residence as a resort town near the Gerudo Valley. He needed to rest and recuperate his strength from the long journey. Unfortunately, Ganondorf knew he was here and Keisa was already in the village, hunting him.

As night rolled around, Keisa stole into the inn and snagged the master key to Commandant Bastion's room. Quiet as falling snow he entered his room and attached himself to the ceiling as he crawled along it like a spider with his ninja-like skills. He hovered over the sleeping form of Commandant Bastion and brandished a kunai.

_You are precautious, Commandant, to wear your armor whilst you sleep, but you Hylians need to take a page from the Darknuts and conceal your faces. If you had, perhaps you would not have met this fate. _

With a quick throw Keisa launched his kunai at Bastion only for the Commandant's hand to reach up and grab it and his good eye to shoot open, taking Keisa's appearance as the assassin was caught on the ceiling. Bastion ran over to his sword, but Keisa kicked it out of the way and produced a whip of pure energy from out of nowhere and coiled it to strangle the commandant. The massive warrior, struggling to breathe, stumbled over to Keisa to attack, but was thrown into the door.

Keisa escaped out the window and Commandant Bastion pursued, grabbing his sword and rushing outside. He ran around the side of the building and saw Keisa on one of the rooftops. Keisa allowed himself to be pursued and lead Bastion out to the farm grounds of the village in the middle of the pumpkin patch.

"Who are you?" Bastion asked, brandishing his sword, "Answer me."

Keisa didn't respond and instead vanished in a cloud of smoke and attacked Bastion with a hard kick to the back that impacted right through the commandant's armor, sending him flying, Keisa rushed the commandant down and delivered a sweeping roundhouse kick to his face before delivering a fierce hard punch to the center of the knight's armor, which somehow had the strength to crack and destroy Bastion's chest armor completely, revealing the less dense chainmail underneath.

"What are you?" Bastion stammered, holding up his massive blade.

"I'm an assassin out for your life," Keisa responded. "Goodbye, Commandant Bastion."

All too quickly, Keisa brandished two daggers and before Bastion knew it he had been lacerated multiple times and Keisa was behind him. He dropped his sword. As his blood soaked into the soil and the massive man fell on his back he saw Keisa walking away. "Who do you…" he struggled to get out, "work for?"

"Ganondorf," Keisa said and departed.

Bastion then promptly hacked up more blood from his mouth and bled out in the middle of the field.

* * *

><p><strong>Sky Kingdom<strong>

Link had trained with Thalassa non-stop for two days. He learned moves like the whirlwind spin attack, pommel bash, rear defense stab and midair kick. Thalassa also taught him how to chain his strikes together to create combo attacks that would help Link increase his killing potential against stronger opponents.

"When you have finally bested me I will teach you everything that I know. The wind crystal is necessary for you to learn my core technique. I hope what I have taught you will be useful to you, young warrior."

Link nodded to Thalassa.

"Good, you should go back to the inn then. I'm sure your third companion is very worried about you."

Link nodded in agreement. He and Trixie headed back to the inn where Din was waiting for them. "Oh, finally done?" Din asked, tapping her foot. "Heh heh, I'm kidding. I'm sure that training was worth every minute. Anyway, check out what I got. You won't regret it."

Link found that Din had bought quite a few things for him, all of them useful. For starters she had bought him a boomerang and a bow and arrow set with a quiver capacity of 30. Following that she'd also managed to get her hands on a set of diving suits for going underneath the water and parkas for the cold climate. She even managed to obtain a bag of deku-brand stun nuts a shovel, and reusable camping equipment. There was also food, supplies and other types of first aid equipment on the off chance Trixie's healing magic didn't quite cut it. To top it all off, Link still had more than 250 rupees left.

"Wow, nice haul Din."

"See, told you, you'd thank me later. With this we could practically go anywhere. But it's up to you, tunic boy. Where's our next stop?"

Link thought about it for a minute only to remember that the old storyteller had said that Link had to return to him to get the old blade, but his blade had already become imbued with Argant's power. He told his party members about this conundrum.

"Hmm, that is strange," Trixie noted. "We'd best go back to him right away."

Link agreed and soon the trio was off for the Pixie Forest. Argant dropped them off in front of it and Link and his companions made their way to the old storyteller's hut.

"Ah, I see you've returned," the old storyteller said to Link. "And you have the fire crystal with you."

Link nodded and unsheathed the blade, explaining to the old storyteller how it had merged with his silver blade.

"That's normal. A crystal can be merged with any blade, but only the dragon force sword can wield all eight. The blade you have now, as you may have noticed, it changed color, indicating its elementalization to the fire element. The Dragon Force Sword cannot be elementalized and therefore against creatures of fire you will no longer be at a disadvantage. Beyond that, with the power of one dragon the blade is sharper and more powerful than that simple silver sword. Give me the weapon." The storyteller asked. Link handed his sword to the old storyteller who then grabbed a linen wrap and unrolled it, revealing a dully colored steel sword with remarkable craftsmanship. It had a plain guard and a black handle. With magic the old storyteller removed the crystal's power from Link's Fire Blade, though the blade retained its elementalization and merged the crystal with the Dragon Force Sword, causing the blade to shine a little and the handle to glow red. The guard transformed and now was a cross shape, red in color. The smaller version of the fire crystal formed on the guard of the blade. Link hoisted the sword above his head.

Link had obtained the Dragon Force sword and imbued it with Argant's power. With it the blade is 1/8 of the way to unlocking its true potential.

"Now that you have the Dragon Force Sword, it's best that you concentrate on obtaining another crystal as soon as possible. I recommend the Earth Crystal. Argant and Emerald are elementally aligned with each other, same as Argant and Valg, but the Earth Temple is much closer from here than the Stormy Plains."

"Then that's where we'll go," Link said.

"How do we get to the Earth Temple?" Din asked. "I heard its hidden underground."

"That is why you needed the Dragon Force Sword. The blade knows its brethren and their locations. It will resonate when it feels a presence of a temple nearby."

"But which region?" Trixie inquired, understanding Din's question better.

"To the south of here, in the South East of Hyrule. You will find a set of craters known as the Fissure Caves. The interlocking maze of those caves will lead you to the Earth Temple."

"Well I guess we know where we need to go," Din remarked.

Link nodded in agreement. He and his troupe headed out towards the south towards the Fissure Caves and eventually arrived at the entrance to them. However, their path was blockaded by a man in black armor that Link recognized.

"Hero of Fate, so we meet again."

"It's you again, Knil. I've been looking for a rematch."

"So have I, but three against one seems sort of unfair, does it not? Why don't we even the odds a little?"

From out of a tree jumped down Cylonilia. Her hood was down. Link gasped when he saw her. "C-Camilia."

"It's Cylonilia now," She told him, brandishing her sword. "Surrender now Link. Ganondorf doesn't need to kill Zelda for what he intends. You can get her back fair and square if you don't fight back and wait."

"Traitor!" Link shouted.

"I am doing my duty of protecting Princess Zelda. You're putting her in harm's way."

"You've been brainwashed!" Link exclaimed.

"Silence, my mind and my motives are clear to me. No one controls who I am. If you will not surrender, Knil and I will kill you all."

"Bring it on, bitch," Din smirked.

"Leave Knil to us Link," Trixie said, "Din's Hammer is more effective against him and my wind magic will be useless against a wind general. You try and bring your friend to her senses."

Din whipped out her hammer. "Yeah, let's have some fun," She charged forward and cracked Knil one along his arm, nearly shattering his entire gauntlet.

"Guh," Knil retreated.

"Not so tough against the Goron's sacred treasure, are you?" Din smirked.

"Fool," Knil said, regenerating his gauntlet, "You are nothing against the power of DARKESS!"Knil swung his sword vertically with all his might creating a mighty shockwave which Din and Trixie dodged out of the way of.

Meanwhile, Link and Cylonilia, formerly known as Camilia, clashed blades. "I can't believe you would betray Hyrule."

"I told you already, my allegiance is to Princess Zelda."

"No, Camilia. What you're doing is wrong."

"I told you, my name is Cylonilia!" Cylonilia struck with her jagged sword as Link blocked with his shield.

Link made several upward arcing thrusts towards the sky, forcing Cylonilia back before sneaking around her and bashing the pommel of his sword into her back and slicing towards her, splitting open her plate armor and creating a laceration.

"Guh!"

Link marveled at how the Dragon Force sword really worked wonders against all forms of defense, though maybe it was simply because the weapon was the bane of chaos. Either way, he was at an advantage.

"Cyclone!" With a fierce swing, Cylonilia, summoned a gray tornado that she sent swirling at Link. The Hero of Fate ran around the tornado, but it pursued him and Cylonilia revealed that she could extend her sword out like a whip, making dodging even harder for Link, but with an anti-air spin attack, Link launched himself into the air towards Cylonilia and then swung his sword and launched a shockwave of fire towards her. Cylonilia dodged the incoming flames as the field of grass she and Link were battling on caught fire. With her wind, Cylonilia put out the flames before they spread.

At the same time, Knil was contending with Din and Trixie rather well for the most part. He'd grown wary of the power of Din's hammer and was avoiding taking blows from it at all cost against his armor. His massive sword was a good defense against the smaller weapon since the sword was unbreakable and for the most part Knil was too heavy and defensive for Trixie's magic to have a profound effect. Then again he was Ganondorf's most powerful general.

Knil ripped out another shockwave from his sword, dispersing his opponents. He then created a dark vortex that leaked out a few bokoblins onto the battlefield. Trixie made short work of them with her magic while Din went striking forward towards Knil. She missed with her hammer as Knil dodged out of the way, giving Din the idea to try something new.

She grabbed the hammer with both her hands and held it out in front of her, charging her magic into the handle and imbuing the entire hammer with bright flames, creating a blazing aura around the hammer. "Mighty Flame!" The burning hot blaze went barely towards Knil, but the King of the Darknuts stood firm. However, the blaze was just a distraction and the next thing Knil knew, Din was rushing towards him and she brought her hammer smashing into Knil's helmet, shattering it.

* * *

><p>Link now had Cylonilia on the defensive as his quick strikes, augmented from his time spent with Thalassa, overpowered her magically enhanced talents by the hands of Ganondorf. Cylonilia was annoyed that she could barely push him off.<p>

_Grr, what the hell is this? I have the power of an Elemental General. He's just a normal Hylian. Why can't I win?_

With a fierce battle cry, Link created a diagonal strike from Cylonilia's shoulder to her hip.

_I…lost._

Link caught her as she fell forward looking at her with a guilty expression, but he was suddenly shoved out of the way, by the sudden arrival of Knil, his helmet back up. He looked back at Link.

"We will finish this another time." With that Knil teleported away.

Link was about to yell out what happened to his friends, but Din and Trixie soon caught up to him.

"Oh, good, you're not hurt," Trixie said.

"Link, I saw his face!" Din exclaimed. "It's the weirdest thing. That guy looks almost exactly like you under his helmet. Well…I mean, his skin is all ashen and he has glowing red eyes and black hair, but he looks like what you would look like if you were a shadow creature."

Link was a little surprised to hear this.

"Wait, so Link's dark counterpart is one of Ganondorf's generals."

"I'm not surprised with a name like Knil," Din said, "That's Link, backwards."

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Link said bluntly. Din got disgruntled.

"Whatever, let's just gather ourselves and keep going. That was an unwelcome interruption. I take it you couldn't convince your friend to come to her senses."

"Camilia is sound of mind."

"Oh please, you really believe she willingly joined Ganondorf?" Din quipped.

"She said she's doing it to protect Zelda."

Trixie huffed. "Ugh, what an extremist. Once Ganondorf gets what he wants out of Zelda he's not going to have any more use for her. What makes that girl think he's even going to let either of them live?"

"She's crazy," Link remarked.

"Oh there's no shortage of evidence of that, tunic boy," Din chuckled.

"Whatever," Trixie remarked, "Let's just keep going."

The trio kept walking through the southern forest, looking for the array of craters that made up the caves. The craters were surrounded by trees and the group soon found that these caves were a lot more widespread than they had originally figured as the caves stretched on for miles upon miles in front of them.

"Oh, this isn't going to be fun," Din remarked slumping over.

"That's why we have the Dragon Force Sword," Trixie stated. "We just gotta walk around until we get a reaction and if we use the legendary right handed method we won't get lost."

"So what, we just pick a ravine and jump in?"

"Sounds like the best way to start," Trixie remarked, "We don't exactly have a map of this area."

Link pondered what to do, taking in the surrounding area until he noticed he could faintly hear music coming off to the left side of the path in front of him, leading down a narrow path surrounded by tall trees, leading to a shining light in the middle of the southern forest. Trixie and Din followed closely behind. All three followed the music, which sounded like someone playing on a lyre, until they made it to a clearing where the sun was shining through the trees.

The sun's light was focused upon a small stump, upon which sat a young woman around Din and Trixie's age. She had long blue hair, coming down to her mid-back and eyes to match. She was wearing a golden circlet around her forehead and a sleeveless turquoise female tunic along with a long ocean blue dress underneath it. She was wearing a golden choker around her neck and blue, foam sandals. She had been strumming on her lyre and her blue color scheme was in stark contrast to her green surroundings.

"O-oh," she noticed Link and his group. Her voice was calm and pure, "Goodness, I thought this place was isolated from civilization."

"It is." Link stated.

"We're travelers," Din added.

"You play the lyre really well," Trixie complimented.

"Thank you," the woman smiled. She took note of Link's clothes and covered her mouth. "Ah?" She held up her skirt and trotted over to Link. "P-Pardon me, but…you wouldn't happen to be Sir Link would you?"

"You have me at a disadvantage," Link said to her.

The woman curtsied, "My name is Nayru. I'm a bard from the scholar's college in Northern Hyrule. I'm also an ice mage."

"Northen Hyrule?" Din questioned with a smirk. "You're a long way from home girl." Link explained to Din that the semester was on break. "O-oh. Tell me these things before I look stupid!"

"Heh heh heh heh!" Nayru laughed.

_Darn, her laugh is so cute, _Din frowned, putting her knuckles on her hips,_ and she seems so innocent._

"Sir Link, I've heard about you from Princess Zelda. I'm her pen pal. She's told me quite a bit about you. Although, while I understand her majesty isn't supposed to leave the castle, I was under the impression you two were um…" Nayru flushed.

Din laughed heartily. "Nah, Zelda and tunic boy here are just good friends apparently. And I guess you must be behind in the news. Zelda's gone from princess to damsel in distress."

"Goodness," Nayru gasped. "What happened?" Link, Din and Trixie explained to Nayru the whole story. "Oh, I see. Then…though I'd hate to trouble you, would you happen to mind if I came along?"

"The more the merrier," Link said without hesitation.

"Liiiink!" Trixie exasperated.

"Hey, princess, if you want tunic boy here all to yourself, just say so," Din told her.

"Shut up you skanky Gerudo thief!"

"HALF Gerudo, thank you!" Din corrected.

"Oh, I certainly don't want to be a bother," Nayru said with worrisome eyes and her hand on her cheek.

"Don't worry, that's just how they are," Link told her.

"W-well, in that case," Nayru curtsied to Link, "I am happy to make your acquaintance, Sir Link." She smiled warmly with her hands clapped together. "I look forward to travelling with you."

_Dammit, I'm doomed, _Din said, slumping forward at how utterly, ridiculously cute Nayru was without even trying. She felt she could kiss her chances with Link goodbye.

"Well, let's get a move on, shall we?" Trixie asked. "It would be good if we could find the Earth Temple tomorrow before it gets dark."

Nayru nodded. "Uhn."

_Yup, I'm doomed._

And with that, Link and his companions, now including Nayru, set off to collect the Earth Crystal.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Wow, two chapters in one day, I'm on a roll and I think I'll continue right into the next one. So Nayru joins the party, bringing Link's party to a total of four people. I'm going to add one more person to the party and that'll be when the group goes after the Water Crystal which'll be right after this. If you guys start feeling like you have a preferred pairing let me know, right now I'm letting personal preference take hold since, like I said, this is my interpretation of Link, but if you guys want to see a pairing with any of our four lovely ladies here [Zelda, Trixie, Din, Nayru] let me know and as I said there's going to be one more party member to give us a total of five love interest options. Also, I don't care if Din and Nayru act anything like how they did in the Oracle games [has never played them], but this is what we call Era Specific personality where upon I have Din acting like Yoruichi Shihoin from Bleach somewhat and Nayru acting like a Yamato Nadeshiko with Trixie…well I'd call her a Tsundere, but that would insult party member and love interest #5. You'll understand when we get there. Anyway, sit tight folks, more chapters on the way). **


	6. The Last Kokiri

**(A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been a while. I was busy finishing my fanfiction, Soul Chess, which is now 100% written. So now, as a means of furthering my skills as a writer, I felt that this fanfic in particular would yield the most results for me regarding how well I am as a writer. Since the last update I wrote out and entire script for the series so updates will be swift so long as college and other things don't get in my way. I estimate 30 chapters to this saga, but we'll see what happens. Regardless of what happens it will not drag on forever like Soul Chess did. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter I have worked up for you. I hope to have another one out later this week as this fic has now become my man fanfiction project).**

Disclaimer: Legend of Zelda is the proud owned property of Nintendo

* * *

><p><strong>Fissure Caves<strong>

Link and his companions walked about the caves, but unfortunately were having no luck finding the Earth Temple and unfortunately Link was getting no resonance from his sword. Following Trixie's advice of the legendary right handed method had kept the group from getting lost, but unfortunately it had sucked up a lot of time and the group was now setting up camp, using an arrow planted in the ground from Link's quiver, to use as a marker so they knew which path to go down next.

Unfortunately, since Din hadn't counted on a fourth member joining the group, there weren't enough sleeping bags.

"Th-that's okay. I've been sleeping in the woods for days now. I don't need one," Nayru said politely. Link suggested that Nayru use his. "Oh, I couldn't possibly impose on you, Sir Link."

"Well the offer stands if you change your mind."

"Thank you," Nayru smiled.

As Link lay on the ground, head resting against a stone, Trixie was busy brushing her hair inside the tent, while Din took Nayru down a pathway into another clearing within the cave maze and lightly pushed her against the wall.

"Okay, I'm not buying it."

"Whatever do you mean? Have I done something wrong?" Nayru asked.

"That! That whole innocent cutesy thing," Din said, folding her arms, "I'm not falling for it!"

"I don't understand…this is…how I behave normally."

"Oh come on!" Din lamented. "Trixie is a princess and even she isn't as pampered as you!"

Nayru curtsied. "It would be unladylike of me to act any other way."

"So you're celibate?" Din asked.

Nayru blushed. "W-well no, but…" She blushed harder.

"So you're innocent then?" Din teased.

Nayru's blush remained. "U-union is such a sacred thing. I-I promised I wouldn't give myself up to anyone, but the man I fell in love with."

"Wow, you are such a tradionalist."

"Is it wrong to be?" Nayru asked, hinting anger.

"Aha! I knew it! You're getting angry," Din pointed with her finger.

"I am simply tired of this inane prodding, Din. I don't understand what I've done to offend you."

Din shrugged. "Nothing really, but I was just worried was all."

Nayru smiled. "You and Miss Trixie have warm feelings for Sir Link. I can tell. It's okay to admit to being a little jealous Din."

"J-jealous? Of you? Why would I be jealous of a pampered prude like you?"

"Your reaction betrays your words," Nayru said both seriously and whimsically.

Din folded her arms and rubbed her shoulder.

"Sir Link is a fine man, but I'd feel bad for Zelda if I came in between them."

"Ha! Didn't you hear tunic boy before? He and Zelda are just friends. If you like him, snag him. If you don't, I'll take him first."

"You shouldn't do that!" Nayru said, getting upset and raising her voice. "Princess Zelda and Sir Link belong together!"

Din pushed a finger against Nayru's forehead. "You'd better erase whatever primitive notions you have of love and romance between knights and damsels out of your head and wake up to reality. Link and Zelda aren't going steady so he's fair game. It's not stopping me and it shouldn't stop you either, but be warned if you do decided to go after him, cause I'm not your only competition." Din then gasped realizing she left Trixie and Link alone at the campsite. She rushed back to it only to relax to find that they were nowhere near each other and in relaxing positions.

Nayru studied Din's odd behavior and let what she said sink in. She meandered on back to the campsite and sat down on the rock Link was resting against and took out her lyre. She began playing on it. The music was so soothing that Din and Trixie both began falling asleep, though that was Nayru's aim. As a bard she could play melodies that could affect specific genders and species in different ways. In this particular instance her melody was meant to affect anything that was not full-blood Hylian.

Nayru's intentions were pure, but she wanted to still speak with Link one on one without dragging him away from the campsite.

"That was a lovely melody," Link told Nayru.

"Thank you," she smiled, taking the compliment. "Zelda told me she once gave you an ocarina. Is that true?"

Link pulled out a blue ocarina from his pocket. It was a replica of the fabled Ocarina of Time that was kept locked in the Royal Family Vault. Zelda had given Link the ocarina for his birthday, having had one of the guards deliver it to his home, before Link joined the Royal Guard.

"Oh, you actually have it. Do you play?"

Link nodded and began to play the Song of Time that was supposed to have been played by the Hero of Time in ancient Hylian lore.

"Oh I think I know that song. It's a little hard to play on the lyre. Tell me, does this sound familiar?" Nayru played a 5/8 note string on her lyre. Link repeated it on his Ocarina. It was an old favorite of the Bard's college: the Serenade of Water.

"You're really good at that," Nayru complimented, putting her lyre back down.

Link changed the subject. "So you're Zelda's pen pal?"

"Well I used to live in Hyrule's Market District, but then I moved away to the college. I'm nobility. Zelda and I were good friends growing up in town. I was a frail girl when I was little so I didn't go to public school, else we would've met around the same time you and Princess Zelda did."

"Do you like being a bard?"

"Well I like being both a bard and a mage. It's tough learning both crafts, but I'm used to it by now. If you've got the aptitude, don't let anything stop you. That's their creed."

"I noticed you and Din talking earlier."

"Oh…that. That was nothing. Actually…is there something going on between you and her? She seems rather attached to you."

"Nothing serious," Link told her, which was sort of true. He and Din were interrupted when they had been fooling around before anything interesting happened.

"Din seems to think I'm competition," Nayru said, "I think you'd be a perfect match with Princess Zelda."

"Zelda…" Link trailed off.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's okay."

Nayru slumped off of the rock and sat down next to Link with her hands folded across her stomach. "Link…can I ask you a personal question?"

"I swear the old hag was dead when I arrived!"

Nayru looked to the side feeling like she just walked into something she didn't want to know about. "…NOT _that_ type of personal question. I was going to ask if you think I'm attractive." Nayru sat up and put her hands on her knees to wait for Link's answer.

"Well you're very cute."

Nayru flushed. No boy had ever called her cute before. It was always 'nerd' or 'babe' or 'ice queen' all of which she regarded with a sense of shyness, especially the second one since she was a girl looking for love, not lust.

Nayru bit her lip and then came out with. "I lied earlier about not wanting to impose. The truth is…this is my first night in these woods. Yesterday I was in a village the northwest of here and before that I was in Kakariko Village. I'm…actually really scared of nature at night."

"I'll protect you."

Nayru thought her heart was going to stop for a moment. "Th-that's so sweet of you Li—no bad Nayru, he's Zelda's sweetheart, not yours."

"I'm a knight. It's my duty to protect others."

Nayru felt a little more relaxed. "D-don't confuse me like that. I…I'm not used to such chivalry."

"It's not chivalry to do the right thing."

"You're so sweet, Sir Link."

"You don't have to be so formal."

"B-but you're a knight. I-I know I'm a noble, b-but it wouldn't be right if…"

"It's because we're friends."

"O-oh…stop that. You're really going to give me a heart attack," Nayru told him.

"You're so cute when you're embarrassed."

"You're doing that on purpose!"

Link sat up and looked at her. "And if I am?"

"Th-that's wrong. You shouldn't play with a girl's heart like that."

"Who says I'm playing? Aren't I allowed to like you?"

"A-as a friend?"

"That's up to you," Link told her.

"I-I see." Nayru's heart was beating a mile a minute. She was so embarrassed. She'd only just met Link and here she was having unclean thoughts about him despite her thoughts that he and Zelda made such a cute couple.

"So…do you want my sleeping bag?"

"Y-yes, thank you."

Nayru took Link's sleeping bag while Link stayed against the rock. After a short while, he hadn't fallen asleep and Din came out of the tent. "Hey, tunic boy, there's room for two, you coming in?" Link raised an eyebrow. "Oh please, I'm not that foolish, just thought you might like to have something to sleep in. Not to mention," Din forcefully shuddered, "It's awfully cold all alone in my bag."

"Well we can't have that," Link joked.

Din laughed. "I heard you and Nayru talking to each other. I was pretending to sleep. Her little sleep spell didn't knock me out cause I'm half-Hyliain," she beeped Link's nose. "You're such a player, tunic boy, but I don't care. You can be however you want, so long as I get a piece of you."

Din brought Link into the tent with her and let him squeeze inside of her sleeping bag with him before clinging to him. "Mmmm, like I thought you're very warm. Goodnight, Link."

"Night, Din."

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Morning<strong>

At the break of dawn, Link and his companions continued through the maze of caves and eventually they were able to find the right spot. The entrance that led to the Earth Temple couldn't have been more obvious considering that in its particular part of the cave maze there were large pillars carved to look like what appeared to be a cross between a Wolfos and an Armos. On the back wall above the entrance there were glowing, green runes arranged in a half-circular pattern with one big rune in the center of the circle.

The entrance itself was just some stairs descending downward with the only light shining in being the sunlight itself. Din made some flame with her hand.

"We should be able to navigate like this," she said. The others agreed and proceeded downward into the dark cave, rustling and awakening the Stalfos and Armos that lurked within and lighting the torches so that they could find their way out later.

Eventually the group reached a rather large room, but it was surprisingly well lit with green flame adorned torches all around the upper sides of the room. There was a gray, cubic rock formation in the center.

"Jeez how far down have we come that this room can stretch on this tall?" Din questioned looking up at the ceiling.

Trixie was already on the other side of the room. The door was locked tighter than the royal family vault. "Yeah there's no getting through here," she remarked.

"You think it has something to do with that rock formation?" Din questioned.

"That's not a rock formation," Nayru stated as she stepped forward and brought out her harp. She yanked on one particular string so harshly that Din and Link had to cover their ears from being in such close proximity to the grating noise.

Suddenly one of the rocks obtained a pair of glowing, green eyes and the formation began to gather together in a gigantic hominid mass forming a golem of rock. The golem beat its chest and roared.

"Well," Din said, twirling her hammer, "This shouldn't be that hard. Yo, tunic boy. You got some explosives? Cause that could help real well with this."

With his massive fist the golem struck forward at Din, but it missed. With her hammer, Din smashed the hand into dust after striking it a few times. Link plucked a bomb out of his satchel and rolled it in between the golem's feet. The rocks cracked from the impact so Link plucked a bomb out and chucked it at the large body, cracking it further.

"Might want to leave this to me Link," Din said, stretching her legs, "I think I've got the best shot at a quick and easy finish."

The Golem tried to bring its fist down upon Din. The half-gerudo dodged and with a few strikes of her hammer turned the fist to dust. The golem stomped with its foot and created a quake. Everyone except for Trixie was disoriented.

"Whoa!" Din exclaimed. "Like that I can't get close."

Link called for Trixie with a wave of his hand and a battle cry. "Right, got it Link." The princess of the sky fairies lifted Link up off his feet and carried him into the air to which Link began unloading his arsenal of bombs upon the golem, dealing significant damage, but not enough to destroy the whole creature and now Link was out of bombs. However, the golem was thoroughly cracked.

Trixie dropped Link down who tried a strike with his sword, but it didn't even scratch the cracked being. Link was flung away by the Golem and somersaulted backwards while in the air to reach a safe landing.

"I got it!" Din exclaimed and then called to Trixie. "Hey Princess do to me what you did to tunic boy!"

Trixie got Din's idea, but rather than carry the woman she concocted a whirlwind beneath Din's feet and sent the hammer-wielding thief airborne. Spinning forward with her hammer in both hands Din flipped through the air and brought the Megaton hammer down on the Golem's skull, shattering it. Din then fell from the air. Link caught her as she fell.

"Oh, well, fancy meeting you here," she chuckled. Link just smiled nervously and let Din get to her feet.

A treasure chest magically appeared in the center of the room. Link approached the chest and opened it. Inside was a pair of heavy Iron Boots. The poor guy could barely hold the up, much less hoist them above his head.

"Whoa those look heavy? Can you even wear them?" Trixie asked.

Link tried on the boots, but found that he couldn't even take a single step forward in them. They were too heavy for his feet.

"Let me try," Din requested earnestly. Unfortunately as it turned out she had even more trouble than Link as she wobbled back and forth in place while trying to move. She lost her balance and banged her back against the treasure chest. "Dammit, these things are ridiculously heavy."

"Why can't you move in them?" Link asked.

Din stepped out of the boots. "Power bracelets don't increase your leg strength, only your arms. I'd need power anklets to wear boots that heavy or you'd have to be used to moving in heavy armor, though I doubt anklets are made or found anywhere in Hyrule."

"So what do we do with them?" Naryu asked.

Link wordlessly just stepped forward and put them in his bag of unlimited space.

"I guess we could take them with us for now," Trixie noted. "They might come in handy at some point." Link agreed.

The door to the room opened magically and the group was allowed to proceed. Inside the room there was a giant switch, bigger than the golem's fist from earlier and a door with a magic barrier preventing the others from proceeding forward. The switch was also very heavy. No matter how many times Link jumped on it, it didn't even budge.

"Stand back," Din said and prepared her hammer. She swung at the switch overhead, but it barely budged and then just returned to its neutral position.

"Damn this is a pretty heavy switch."

Nayru had an idea, "Sir Link, if you were to wear those boots from earlier and land from higher up, "She pointed to the high rising ceiling, "Gravity might be able to do the rest."

"Then Trixie can levitate me with her magic," Link stated.

"I could launch you into the air myself. Wearing those boots is one thing, but lifting them wouldn't be a problem."

"I have faith in Trixie's magic," Link stated.

"Fine, it was just a suggestion," Din told him.

Link nodded to Trixie who forced a gusting whirlwind underneath Link after he had positioned himself in the center of the switch and put on those ridiculously heavy iron boots.

Trixie then cancelled her spell and Link fell from the air onto the switch. The switch slammed down about three-quarters of the way before popping back out into its upright position.

"Higher!" Link exclaimed.

"You could get hurt," Trixie told him.

"I'll manage," Link responded.

Trixie sighed at Link's recklessness, but did as he suggested. She whipped up another levitating gale and lifted Link as high into the air as she could. Link was almost touching the ceiling now. She then dispelled her spell and Link slammed down onto the switch, feeling slightly disoriented from the impact, but the switch was pressed in all the way and the glowing barrier disintegrated, allowing Link and the others to proceed onward.

Strangely enough the barrier was blocking a long upward staircase and when the group exited the staircase they were now outside. The area was rectangular shaped, almost square, and there were grass and flowers set up in this boxy area. Four trees with pink petals were positioned in rather strange locations around the area as if to be the corners of an arena within the meadow. At the far end of the clearing there was a large stone altar where there sat a statue of Emerald and his namesake's gem gripped tightly in the statue's talons. The sun was shining over head. The stone "walls" around this spot of the caves from earlier reached high into the air, but the open area was wide enough for Argant to land.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Din exclaimed. "We could've just flown to this spot?"

"Oh if you had I would not have appeared," responded a disembodied voice. A gentle wind blew, as the petals began to blow and finally a figure stood before the group. It was a woman with green hair styled in pigtails, wearing a black cloak over regal looking leather armor, complete with fingerless gloves. The cloak had a green emerald embedded in it acting as a pin to the armor. A sword was planted firmly in the ground in front of her, stretching about half her body length, which was about a head shorter than Link. The blade had an intricate dark blue handle and its guard was curved at the tips. The woman had green eyes and was wearing a silver circlet with a jade lodestone embedded at the center front of the accessory. "My name is Farore I am the champion of the long since extinct Kokiri people. My essence is tethered to this temple by the will of the Great Deku Tree who now watches over the Deku Children, who inherited the forest from us."

"Why did the Kokiri go extinct?" Link asked.

"The Kokiri were a race of children. As such reproduction was next to impossible and so during the comings and goings of many generations eventually war and strife took its toll on the forest and we were unable to survive."

"But you're an adult," Link pointed out.

"In times long since passed, there was a Kokiri named Saira, who was deemed the Sage of the Forest. As such she had permission to leave the forest if she wished. However, doing so removed her childhood immortality and she was able to age and grow old. She mated with a Hylian whom she shared a special bond with and through that I was born.

"However, in leaving the forest, a few of the other Kokiri believed that they too could do the same, not realizing that she had such a blessing and many died. Panic swept through the forest and soon creatures from the Lost Woods and parasites that had made their homes in the dead husk of the forest guardian, the Great Deku Tree, began to overrun the forest.

"To protect the forest, my mother let out all of her sagely power to produce a Deku Saproling, but in doing so, because she had left the forest once before, she died for the forest. My father and I then fought side by side and we cleansed the forest of its would-be destroyers. After that, he left the forest, to where I knew not, but I stayed. The forest had been my home since I was a little girl and someone had to protect the Deku Sapling in case those creatures came back.

"Because of my Kokiri Blood my body aged twice as much as the average Kokiri and then halted. I outlived my father and the Deku tree began to grow under my watchful eye. I became not only its guardian, but the guardian of all life in the forest. As generations passed further, the old Deku tree withered away, but unfortunately the new one did not seem to be growing any time soon. The forest had been tainted by the creatures that had overrun it generations ago and the fairies who had lost their Kokiri companions were migrating north to what is now known as the pixie forest. A disease ate through the forest that I was not affected by because of my Hylian blood, but I watched each and every other Kokiri die and the Deku Children become the new people of the forest.

"When the age of the dragons finally came, as the last Kokiri, I swore allegiance to the element of the earth and the Deku Sapling that had yet to fully sprout. And now, for generations, I have been the protector of these uprooted caves of Emerald's power, the remains of what used to be the Kokiri forest. This spot, this very spot that I stand in was my mother's sacred haven in a place known as the Sacred Meadow. The temple you just traveled through is a reconstructed land of the old Lost Woods, the new one now residing beyond the Ebony Woods and leading to the Haunted Meadows. Does that satisfy your thirst for knowledge, Hero of Fate?"

Link nodded.

"Good," Farore grabbed her sword with both hands and lifted it up before slamming it down towards the earth, erecting a green-tinted magical barrier that used the Sakura trees as its corners. Farore then held her blade up by her face so that her green eyes peered through the spaces between the curved points of the guard and the center. "This blade once had the power to repel evil, but over time it is simply a relic of its former self. It is the legendary blade known as the Master Sword, a blade wielded by those with extreme courage. Hero of Fate, prove your courage to me." Farore took a stance that had her body turned with her left food leading forward, knees bent, right arm tucked in at her side, left arm extended so that the blade of her sword and her finger tips met at approximately the same length, "Defeat me in combat so that I may do my duty as Guardian of both the element of Earth and the Forest of Old!"

Link prepared his sword and shield as another gentle wind blew around the battlefield, knocking some petals loose from the trees. As they settled he rushed forward to meet Farore headlong into combat. The incomplete dragonforce sword met with the elder master sword as sparks flew. Link swung forward, but Farore dodged to the side and performed a mobile spin attack. Link steeled himself with his shield as her blows impacted his equipment.

Without skipping a beat, Farore charged in with fast stabbing strikes too fast for Link to keep up with so, again he needed to use his shield to defend himself. As Farore made one last forceful stab, which sent an impactful force against the barrier behind him, the Hero of Fate performed his rolling parry attack as he rolled along the ground and around Farore and popped up from the ground, spinning and slicing into the air as he slashed her up the side of her back. He then managed to make a few more successful strikes before Farore managed to put her blade between Link's blade and her body. Her left hand then began glowing and she created sharp stalactites out of the earth, forcing Link to keep his distance and avoid her magic prowess with the earth element. Farore then ran forward and jumped up onto one of the risen stalactites and then jumped at Link overhead with a downward thrust. The ground shook with the thunderous impact of her landing.

As Farore made to get her blade out of the ground and turned to get to Link with a wide, outward swing, the Hero of Fate dodged her fearsome swing and managed to get a few more successful strikes in on the forest guardian, injuring her casting arm. Farore then put both hands on her blade and with fearsome, powerful swings swung at the ground and created a row of stalactites, one of which caught Link from underneath and sent him flying into the air. With magnificent power and speed, Farore pushed up from a stalactite and got up over Link's head.

She rushed in at Link with magnificent power and speed. However, feeling his life threatened, Link's adrenaline boost kicked in and he got his shield up just in the nick of time to block Farore's incoming assault. She then came up from below. Link turned swiftly to block her again. Farore bounced on her highest made stalactite and then charged at Link from above, letting gravity do the rest of the work for her. However, with his heightened senses Link not only dodged her strike, but her cut her right along the throat, severing an artery. Farore reached the ground, face first, her body bleeding out like crazy as Link fell backwards onto the ground, but managed to get up. Farore's body dissipated into petals as the barrier disintegrated and her body formed again in front of Emerald's statue. However, now it was transparent.

"Well done, Hero of Fate," Farore told him. "You have proven that Hyrule is in good hands."

"Farore…"

"I am proud to have been defeated by a warrior like you. Do not despair. I am not dead. Guardians are everlasting until the day that the dragons roar no more. For my mother, for my father, for the Kokiri, for the Deku Tree of old and the one that did not grow, I will always guard this place."

Farore's body then faded into a burst of pink petals as the claws on Emerald's statue retracted, allowing Link to obtain the green gem. The blade he wielded now had evolved into the Fusion Blade. With the power of Emerald flowing through it, the sword had gained the capacity to cut solid metal.

As Link's bag shined brightly with green energy he reached into the satchel for the Iron Boots, which were now gilded gold with a greenish-turquoise color. As Link fitted them to his feet, he found that he was rather limber in these metal shoes, though not as limber as his usual footwear.

"Those boots appear to have been enchanted by Emerald's power. If you were to impact them forcefully against something, Sir Link, I bet they would react with all the force that they did as before, but now at least you can wear them normally," Nayru explained.

"You sure know a lot," Din commented.

"Well I am a scholar," Nayru curtsied.

Link was about to call for Argant when the dragon appeared of his own accord. "Master we must make great haste to Kakiriko village. It is under attack!"

"No time for rest it seems," Din glanced back at Naryu, "You coming with us?"

"Yes, of course."

"You sure, it'll be dangerous," Din told her.

"I'm not a rigid pacifist, Din," Nayru said with a frown, "Argant the Fire Dragon, please take us to Kakiriko Village."

"At once," Argant said and with that Link and his three companions set off to see what it was that was brewing trouble in one of Hyrule's major settlements.

**To be continued…**

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: So yeah for those of you that thought that Farore was going to become Link's 5****th**** companion, boy did I just sink that theory into the ground and I even did a semi-decent job at explaining what happened to the Kokiri. It's a bit sad, but hey it's been several generations since Ocarina of Time. For those of you who are wondering exactly when this would be taking place, I'd wager, if you look at the official Zelda timeline it would be a LONG time after Four Swords Adventures. So you'll see a couple of nods to that game, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword and some of the other games that fit to that timeline. Strangely enough the only game in that timeline I haven't played is Majora's Mask and the original Four Swords. I hope you OoT fans could discern exactly what Farore was referring to about her history. I don't know if things would work exactly like that, but hey I'm taking liberties. I am going to the lab where I'll be for the rest of the day. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and there's more on the way. Ja ne!)**


	7. Family Ties

**(A/N: I don't care if that whole thing with Farore's ancestry makes sense to you, but fuck it this is my fanfic and I will do what I want. Time to see what's going on in Kakariko village and I'm even going to give a little insight into why Din refers to herself as a half-gerudo).**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda franchise

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><p><strong>Kakariko Village<strong>

Immediately upon landing in the village, Link and the others noticed that the place was already aflame and townspeople were running around like crazy in the chaos as Armos were all over the place.

Din whipped out her hammer. "Piece of cake."

"Be careful they self-destruct when they take lethal damage!" Trixie warned.

"They appear to be led by some form of superior being," Nayru noted. "Armos are not normally smart enough to directly attack people."

"Then we'll leave that to tunic boy here. I doubt those pathetic stone husks can withstand a blow from the Goron's sacred treasure."

"Don't get cocky, Din," Trixie warned her.

"Yeah, yeah, I know they explode. I'll be fine, I'm telling you."

"Trixie and I will handle the crowd and put out the fires. Let's meet up by big tree at the front of town when things have quieted down."

"Sounds like a plan," Din said and the four companions charged forward.

As Link ran down the pathway through the town, watching as Din would smash an Armos with such force that it would go sailing away from her before exploding, he whistled for Argant.

"What is it that I may do for you, my master?" Argant roared as he lowered his altitude to hear Link's commands.

Link requested if Argant could pinpoint the location of what was controlling the Armos.

"I can do that," Argant said, beating his wings to gain a higher altitude. "To send a signal to the Armos would require magic power. I can sense the magic power from here. Follow me my master."

Link soon found Argant leading him towards the graveyard where upon Argant flew up into the air and out of sight. At the far end of the graveyard stood a massive Armos covered in moss, lichen and ivy and was colored green. About the graveyard there were at least a dozen or so regular Armos and at least a third of a dozen Armos Knights.

Link prepared his newly enhanced sword and his shield. Without any restock of bombs he'd have to see just how sharp his new blade had become. He also equipped his enchanted Iron boots, just in case.

Link charged towards the larger Armos at the end of the graveyard, hacking and slashing his way through the Armos around him, his metal-piercing blade cutting through their thick armor like butter. However, the Armos Knights were a bit too thick for his blade to cut through all the way and his blade kept getting caught in their thick exterior.

Link improvised by removing his blade and then kicking the massive creatures with his boots. The heavy boots, upon impact, were enough to shatter the tougher Armos to rubble with a mere kick as the resulting quake caused by Link's kick shattered them apart. Link then made his way to the large, ivy and moss covered Armos.

"You must be the Hero of Fate," The large Armos stated. "I am Terraform, king of the Armos." The large being brought out his sword from the sheath behind his back and let it slam against the dirt with a massively loud thud. "You may have acquired the Dragonforce blade, Hero, but with only two gems, you will find the incomplete blade impossible to pierce my nigh impenetrable armor." Terraform aimed his blade at Link as he grabbed his cracked, stone shield. "Have at thee."

With a lumbering slow strike, Terraform swung overhead at Link. The knight of Hyrule dodged out of the way with his superior speed, ran up to Terraform and kicked him with his boot, cracking the massive warrior's body, which Link proceeded to chip away at with more kicks to the side. Terraform held his hands up over his head and let out a burst of energy, sending thorny vines everywhere. Link blocked with his shield and was pushed back quite distance despite his incredibly heavy boots.

With his massive sword Terraform took another swing at Link with his giant stone sword, but Link dodged again with a jump to the side and ran to get inside Terraform's defenses once more. He then kicked Terraform on the other side of his body and kicked him continually until more vines attacked him.

"Enough!" Terraform stabbed the ground with his blade, creating an earthquake that knocked Link off balance by the sheer magnitude even though he braced himself with his shield as a crater was formed around Terraform. With his enemy disoriented, a patch of ivy extended off of Terraform and hoisted Link up from the ground, choking him.

"Farewell, Hero," Terraform mocked and prepared to swing his blade up again, but suddenly snow began to fall. "Snow? At this time of year?"

At the far end of the graveyard the sound of a harp playing could be heard. Nayru was plucking on her strings as the Harp began to produce beautiful, serene snow over the graveyard. However, this was no ordinary snow. Upon contact with Terraform's vines, moss and lichen it all began to frost over, allowing Link an opportunity to swing his legs and smash the ice coating his neck, freeing himself.

"Sir Link, now's your chance!" Nayru called.

"So cold…I can barely move!" Terraform uttered.

With a kick, Link dislodged Terraform's own blade loose and then steeled his body with the stamina bolster that Argant had granted him, allowing Link to pick up the massive stone sword.

"NOOOOOOO!" Terraform shouted as used the massive blade to slash the stone monstrosity cleanly in half.

With Terraform defeated, the rest of the Armos turned to solid statues, which din then shattered just to be safe.

With the townsfolk safe, the panic calmed down and the group could meet back together. As Nayru and Link approached the tree, Link said thanked Nayru for saving him.

Nayru twirled as she blushed, speaking nervously, "I-it was nothing Sir Link. You're quite welcome."

"The fires have been put out," Trixie told Link. "As long as we're here we can—"

"Excuse me!" A voice called out.

The others turned their attention to a courier running up to them from the inn.

"Pardon me, sir with the green cap, but by any chance would you happen to be Sir Link of the Hylian Army?"

Link nodded.

"I have a letter for you from his majesty the king. It's very important." The courier handed link the letter. "Tallyho!" he then jogged back to the inn.

Link read over the letter.

_Dear Link,_

_I have sent you this letter in great urgency and I hope it reaches you very soon after I have sent it out. I regret to inform you that Commandant Bastion has been killed in action somewhere out to the west. Hyrule is in turmoil right now and we are trying to scrounge together an acting Commandant. I send you this not to deter you from rescuing Zelda because our grand commandant was murdered, but because I am warning you to be careful. If an assassin of that man Ganondorf's was able to get Bastion then it is unknown who could be next. I've sent a letter of this nature to Impa as well, hoping it reaches her. Please do your best to rescue my daughter. I have faith in you Link._

The signature was illegible, but given that the letter was stamped with the royal seal, Link knew it had to be the king who sent the letter. He was cross as he stood there holding the parchment.

"Link, what's it say?" Trixie asked in earnest, wondering what had her comrade so angered.

"Commandant Bastion was killed," Link responded.

Din reacted like she was going to pass out. "C-commandant Bastion? A-as in Commandant Duke Bastion?" Din asked, reciting his full name.

Nayru scratched her head. "I can't think of any other Bastion."

"Th-this is some sort of joke right?" Din asked, one hand on her hip the other bent, palm up, her expression irate.

"What's got your leotard in a twist?" Trixie questioned.

"Give me that!" Din said, forcefully tearing the letter away from Link and read it over for herself. Her eyes became sadder and sadder as she continued reading the letter. She sniffed as tears formed in her eyes. "It can't be true." She dropped the letter, covered her eyes with her arm and ran off towards the well.

"Ah! Din!" Trixie called for her, reaching in her general direction, but Din was out of earshot and slowly faded from view. "What was that all about?" Trixie wondered aloud in concern.

"Link go talk to Din," Nayru told him. "As Trixie was going to say before that courier gave you that letter, as long as we're here I'd like to buy a few things since I'll be traveling with you. Please see what's bothering Din and help her out. She looked absolutely heartbroken."

Link agreed, bent down to pick up the letter on the ground, put it in his bag, and went off to find Din.

The half-gerudo was standing by the well, staring down into the hole, sniffing with her fists clenched at her sides. "You were always supposed to be there," her head sunk lower towards her chest, "Dammit." She then heard footsteps approach from behind. She picked her head up and turned around to see Link. "Hey, Link," she said, referring to him by his actual name, as though such a thing signified how she was downright miserable at the moment.

"Talk to me, Din," Link requested.

Din sighed, "I won't lie to you," she said turning completely around to face Link. "Link, Commandant Bastion is…was my father."

"I had a feeling," Link responded.

"I suppose you would suspect something like that after that performance." She paused before speaking again. "He…never talked about me in public, but…he really loved my Mom and me. You could tell if you saw us together. He would always write and send rupees to us. He…he just didn't want me ridiculed, I guess. Then again when your mother is the Gerudo Gatekeeper I guess politics would've been a little hairy."

"Gatekeeper?" Link questioned.

"Our political system runs on a council of five Gerudo when there's no king. There's The Gatekeepr, my mom, who does border control, The Scholar who maintains cultural ethics within our community and oversees politics, The Warden, our strongest warrior, jailer and overseer of other warriors, The Storyteller the greatest sorcerer and the keeper of Gerudo folklore and, of course, our Exalted Temple Master. Currently that would be Nabooru." Din's tone perked up as she spoke of Nabooru. "She's awesome; you would like her if you met her." She paused when she realized how that might've sounded. "Well…not in that kind of way, but you get what I'm saying right?" There was an awkward pause as Din went back to a calmer, more informative tone. "But yeah if my pedigree was public to your people, it'd be a total mess, not just for my culture, but for Bastion too."

"Your dad protected you."

Din sighed with a hint of sorrow, "He always had my best interests in mind. That's why I went to Death Mountain. When I heard about what happened to the princess…I wanted to help him. I wanted to show him how strong I became since he last saw me."

"I'm glad you told me," Link said with a small smile.

"I feel like I could tell you anything," Din said with a comforted smile. "Link…I…" Din stepped towards him and grabbed Link's tunic, bunching it into one spot as she brought her lips towards Link's. He did not resist as their lips met, eyes closed, and bliss overtaking the moment.

It only lasted about a dozen seconds, but it felt like more as they drew away from each other. Din's eyes were glowing. Her expression shone with radiance whilst she smiled. "There's something here, isn't there?"

"It feels that way."

Din's smile grew wider. "I see that look and I know what you're thinking. If I were any other girl I'd be mad, but it's okay with me." She winked. "I know I can't compete with a lifelong friend. But if it doesn't work out," She came in close to Link again, pushing her body close against his, head underneath his chin, serene smiled upon her face, eyes closed, "I'm right here." She opened her eyes and moved away. She smiled again as she leaned forward a little, playing with her hands as she held them behind her back. "Although I guess it's a little selfish of me to hope that it won't."

"At least you're honest about it."

Din chuckled as she grinned with her eyes closed, "Heh heh, yup." She opened them again, still smiling. "Come on. Let's go see what our fair princess and blue violet are up to."

Link and Din found Trixie and Nayru by the village gates. Trixie immediately noticed Din's improvement in attitude and demeanor by the expression on her face.

"You seem like you're feeling better."

"Din," Nayru spoke up, "We saw one of the court wizards while we were shopping. I asked about Commandant Bastion and then I mentioned the adventure and well," she paused before handing Din a plain looking box, "here."

"What's this?" Din asked curiously, but then opened the box without waiting for an answer. Inside there was a pair of flame-shaped earrings. There was a note inside the box. It read:

_Dear Din,_

_If you're reading this then it means that I am no longer of this world. I am sorry about that. You know I love you. You and your mother were always in my thoughts right up until my hour of death, I'm sure. I wanted to give you these earrings when you eventually found someone to marry, but I guess that won't be possible anymore. They're special earrings that will empower your fire magic and allow you to survive in environments of extreme heat. You and your mother are in my last will and testament. My estate and my title are to be divided up and distributed by his majesty, but at the very least I want you two recognized for what you are to me. _

_Your father,_

_Duke Bastion_

Din sniffed as she finished the letter. "Daddy."

"We heard about it from the court wizard," Trixie stated, "I'm so sorry, Din. I had no idea. You're really lucky to have had such a wonderful man to call your father."

"Why what happened to your father?" Link asked.

"I'll explain it later," Trixie told him, "Right now we need to be getting down to Lake Hylia as soon as we can."

"Why? What's the rush?" Link wanted to know.

"Clear skies from now till the end o the week. At full power, picking up weather patterns is not a problem."

"Lake Hylia it is then," Link stated and whistled for Argant who swooped down to let Link and his companions climb aboard and flew off to the southwest towards the beautiful Lake Hylia.

* * *

><p><strong>Lake Hylia<strong>

Hyrule's most famous lake, Lake Hylia was a commune of both Hylians and Zora alike. The large lake, which stretched across larger than even some other settlements on the continent, was more than four times as deep as it was wide. Down in the depths of its waters lived the Zora people. Their settlement was inaccessible to anyone that either didn't have gills or didn't have an escort from the Zora people in one of their bubble domed carriages.

However, to get a Zora escort, one needed to have a royal decree or a direct request from the Zora King himself. No uninvited guests were allowed in Zora's domain, which was why they lived so far down in the ocean. While the water pressure wasn't that strong, the time it would take for an oxygen breathing being to dive down that far, not to mention the chilling temperature of the water, would make it impossible to dive down far enough to even catch a glimpse of the domain. However, that didn't mean the Zora's were a reclusive bunch. Many Zoras surfaced to Lake Hylia and spread themselves out and about the many settlements of Hyrule. Most of them were merchants and explorers, but some of them, especially the ones who mainly stayed around the lake itself, were soldiers of the King Zora's army and only stayed around to provide escorts and report to their king of any possible threats to his kingdom if they believed they had caught wind of such a thing.

As Link and his comrades arrived at the commune, Link seemed to hatch an idea as he looked and saw all the Zoras wandering about.

"I know that look," Trixie beamed. "The gears in your head are turning again. What is it?" Link suggested to Trixie that she try and use her royal status to get them down to Zora's Domain.

"What? And waste the investment I put into these wetsuits?" Din complained. Link figured they might still need the suits to travel to the water temple. Din seemed complacent, but disappointed simultaneously.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot then," Trixie said walking over to the nearest helmet-wearing Zora to try and get Link and the others safe passage into the domain. He directed her to the pub with his spear. She went inside shutting the door behind her.

"Ten rupees says she crashes and burns," Din teased.

"I have faith in Trixie," Link replied.

"Din, that's mean," Nayru chastised.

A little while later Trixie exited the pub and the look on her face suggested she had succeeded. "We're in," she told the others, "but there's a catch. Link has to face our fishy friend here in honorable combat to proof that I'm not just full of it."

"No problem," Link said without any hesitation.

"My, you sure are confident," Nayru said, slightly taken aback.

"That's our Link," Trixie smirked.

"I like a man with confidence," Din purred.

Link met up with the Zora soldier Trixie had spoken too over by the shallows of the lake. They would use the relative surface of the lake to do combat. Whoever could hit the other three times without leaving the lake itself would win, so if Link could hit the Zora soldier three times first he would speak with the King Zora to allow the others safe passage.

Link agreed to these terms. While Link couldn't attack while swimming—especially with his gear weighing him down—he instead improvised. There were many rocky spires floating around the shallower portions of the lake surface. Link dodged, weaved and eventually got enough out of the water to shoot his bow at the Zora, nailing his friendly foe in the helmet. After three times, Link was victorious and the Zora agreed that Link had the superior combat skills since he had managed not to get hit by the Zora soldier even once.

"I will go see his majesty at once!" the Zora replied. "It will take me until morning to meet with his majesty and bring a bubble carriage to the surface. Until then, stay safe travelers." The Zora then dove into the lake and disappeared out of sight beneath the waves.

Upon entering the inn, a courier came up to Link. He had the knight's paycheck for him send to him from Impa and had been looking for him to give it to him. With the money he had obtained, Link had enough to buy rooms for every member of his group. Doing so made Naryu feel all aflutter that Link had the chivalry to pay for each room, figuring she'd have to pay for herself.

* * *

><p><strong>That Night<strong>

As Link was settling down for the evening, he was visited in his room by Trixie who asked if they could talk.

"Of course we can," Link told her and she sat down on his bed next to him.

"I'm glad," Trixie said as she her feet dangled over the side of the bed, "We haven't had much of a chance to talk just us for a while. I wanted to tell you about my father…or rather lack thereof. We fairies…we aren't always born as you would imagine. Those of us with strong magic power weren't so much born as we were created. My mother is a Macro Fairy as we call it. They are born once every four generations and no matter who is on the throne, once he or she is of age he or she becomes our king or queen. These macro fairies are born normal size but reach a large state by the end of infancy. The biggest problem with macro fairies is infertility in exchange for amazing magical power. The great fountain, which I utilized my full power is the very fountain in which I was "born", formed from the very magical energies in the fountain. Normally nobility is supposed to be a princess' betrothed, but…a macro fairy is often frowned upon if she is not a good ruler."

"Your mother seemed very nice."

"Thank you, Link," Trixie was very reassured and uplifted to hear that. She continued with her cultural explanation. "I am one of five children of my mother's creations, but I'm also the first and therefore set for the throne. The problem is all the noble male fairies dislike me. I'll have no heir."

"I can't imagine anyone not liking you."

Trixie blushed. "You're too kind." There was silence for a while as Trixie's heart thumped in her chest to the point where she could feel it smacking against her ribcage. She could feel herself also growing warmer with every passing second as she shifted herself closer to Link just a hair's breadth. "L-Link…I uh…" she began nervously, "I…I know it's selfish to ask but," she paused as she thought how best to word what was about to come out of her mouth. It would be a statement she could never take back. "If…if things look bad, for me that is, would you," she looked at him with a doe-eyed look, "would you give me an heir."

Inside Link's brain the metaphorical hamster running on the wheel suddenly caught leg cramp and the wheel stopped spinning before the hamster keeled over and died holding a flower with its stubby little paws that then wilted.

"Maybe that was too soon. I…uh," she got to her feet, "I better…"

Link grabbed her arm to stop her, "Your interest is not unwelcome." He got to his feet and let go of her arm as he stood right behind her.

Trixie turned back around to look at him. "Um…o…kay," her heart was beating so fast and her face was blushing like crazy. "I…umm…y-you don't h-have to. R-really. I uh…"

"I could pull a Bastion," Link said half-jokingly.

Trixie smiled. "That would be for the best I suppose. Din seems to have you wrapped around her finger."

"You have it backwards," Link said pridefully.

"Oho, I see. Taming the wildcat huh?" Trixie responded playfully.

"It doesn't mean I think any less of you," Link told her.

Trixie laughed nervously and then swallowed involuntarily. "S-so…uh…um…about the child…"

"Do you want Din or Nayru walking in on us?"

"Ah, yeah, that could happen," Trixie said, laughing nervously some more, "Another time then."

"It'll mean something," Link told her.

Trixie thought her heart was going to stop as she felt a half of a second of reality skip her notice completely, "I…I wasn't aware…"

"If we had kept traveling alone…"

Trixie sighed in annoyance, "That's why we should stop picking up companions."

"We need Din and Nayru's help," Link told her.

Trixie sighed again, but this time in defeat. "That's certainly true." She then yawned. "I'm going to go to my room. Night, Link." She left.

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Morning<strong>

The carriage was all prepared for Link and his companions the next morning. It sat in the water, being drawn by two, blue, large reptilian-looking seahorses.

"What…are those?" Din asked.

"They're seahorse dragons," Nayru answered. "Thought to be descended from—"

"I just wanted to know what they were. I didn't ask for an encyclopedia entry," Din responded.

"I want to hear it," Link spoke up. Din sighed in annoyance.

Nayru smiled as she continued, "Seahorse dragons are thought to be descended from the actual water dragon typhoon, but in reality they are simply a new breed of a creature dating back to the Sky Era, this particular strain was discovered two generations after the shadow era when a hapless fisherman was out in his boat and hooked one of these massive beasts to his boat. The Zoras marked them as an endangered species and breed them in captivity or in specially marked underwater nature preserves in hopes of restoring their population and perhaps discovering more about their ancestry since seahorse dragons predate the Zoras."

"See Din, was that so bad?" Link snarked.

"Ha ha ha," Din faux laughed. Nayru giggled.

* * *

><p><strong>Zora's Domain<strong>

Upon entering the carriage the group dived down beneath the depths. It was a marvelous sight to see marine life and underwater structures that simply diving beneath the water would've been impossible to see, even with the wet suits. All four members of Link's group, including the hero himself, marveled at the sights, but Nayru was the one most impressed of all.

The trip was about ten minutes and finally they docked inside Zora's domain and were immediately escorted to meet with the King Zora. The Zora king sat on his large throne. He was incredibly rotund and had stubby little legs with his arms somewhere inside the bright red cloak draped around his personage. He had several tentacles dangling down over his maw, hiding his actual mouth. He also had a cephalid cranium in contrast to the long and straight fish-shaped heads of his people. He had two piercing red eyes and was a dark azure color.

"Greetings," he said with his deep, elderly voice to Link and his companions. "My name is King Heringus Porposal Lorecrustian Zora the third. I have been informed by one of my soldiers, Lacus, that you travelers seek the Water Temple and that you seek to complete the Dragonforce sword." He began kicking his legs as they dangled off the side of the throne. "What has happened upon the surface? News does not reach me often down here in my domain so I was not expecting such request. Please travelers, explain."

Link gave the King of Zoras his explanation about Princess Zelda's capture and that he was the Hero of Fate.

"I see." It couldn't be said if the King of Zoras understood the legend or simply bought Link's explanation and was going to permit these finless creatures to enter his people's most sacred grounds. "I hoped you packed swim gear then. I don't provide escorts to the temple. It's too dangerous."

"We're covered," Link affirmed.

"Good then," The King of Zora's said and was about to give directions when a voice cried out through the air.

"Father!" Link and the others turned around to see a tall, thin, Zora female step into the throne room. She had two fins along the sides of her arms, folded in, but could fold out to have three segments at the halfway mark and could extend outward to be the length of her arm at full extension. She also had two smaller fins attached to her upper thighs. Her body was pearl colored with a periwinkle hue to it. She had finned ears and violet-pink eyes. Her head had a crest that was flattened along the top of her head, but extended outward and towards the back of her head giving it a topside look of a stretched out arrowhead. She was wearing a membrane on her body that covered her torso from her collar bone down to and covering nether regions. From her ears hung two coral earrings shaped like conch shells.

"Ruto!" the King cried out. "What's so urgent, my pearl?"

The Zora woman, Ruto, stepped forward with slow, graceful steps. She had her thumbs and index fingers pressed together and interlocked around each other. "My apologies, I was eavesdropping with my scrying glass and I overheard that the travelers were going to Typhoon's Temple."

The king became cross. "No! No! No! No! A thousand times no! It's too dangerous for someone like you!"

"What's so dangerous? Can't she handle herself?"

The King sighed. "Surface dwellers, this is Princess Ruto Syreness Troutalesca Zora, my only daughter and child."

"A pleasure," Ruto responded with a shallow, tilted bow.

"Princess Trixie Mescearl of the Sky Kingdom," Trixie curtsied. She gestured to her group. "This is Din, Link and Nayru. We're collecting—"

Ruto cut Trixie off. "I heard. I was listening to the scrying glass remember?"

"Why do you want to go to the temple?" Nayru inquired kindly.

"She—"

Ruto cut her father off. "I can answer for myself, father." Ruto sighed. "The Water Temple is more important than just being Typhoon's dwelling. It is also the holding place of the Zora's Sapphire, our people's sacred treasure."

"What does your treasure do?" Din asked, her thievery instincts stimulated.

"The sapphire is in the shape of a pendant. The one who wears it can have mastery over the seas and summon its denizens from anywhere on land. It can also grant activated telepathy, telekinesis and allow any sort of air to be breathable plus allow levitation and temporary swimming through the air itself."

"Why do you want that so badly?" Link asked. He understood its uses, but Ruto's desire to get the sapphire seemed more than just normal treasure hunting instinct.

"Because I've lived here all my life. I want to see the world," Ruto answered.

"Please don't encourage her," King Zora requested humbly. "My wife went to place the sapphire in the temple and she never came back. Lacus, the Zora who brought you here, was the one who told me it had successfully been placed in the temple."

As if on cue, Lacus came rushing into the grand hall. "My lord! There's trouble!"

King Zora looked at his soldier in confused shock.

"We have word that Ganondorf's Water General, Acuthem has been spotted heading to Typhoon's Temple with an army of Octoroks and other marine creatures. We fear he is after the dragon's sapphire."

"Good heavens!" King Zora cried, nearly bouncing up off his throne. "You! Travelers! Go to the temple at once!"

"I'm going with you!" Ruto insisted to Link's group.

"Ruto no!" King Zora scolded.

"Can you defend yourself?" Link asked.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Ruto snapped. "I may not look it, but I've been trained in the 'Way of the Zora'. It's a type of unarmed combat my people use as a means of self-defense."

"She's only a red tail though," the king informed Link.

"Is that…good?" Link knew next to nothing about the art.

Ruto sighed at his ignorance, but became informative on a dime. "The ranks for the art are as follows in ascending order: white tail, blue tail, yellow tail, red tail, black tail, rainbow tail, gold tail and shark tail."

"Anything else?" Link wanted to know if there was more to Ruto than just that.

"Well unlike you guys I'm an avid underwater swimmer and I can breathe under the water. I also have a map of the temple."

Based on this, Link felt his decision was obvious. "Sorry your majesty, she's coming with us."

"WHAT?!" King Zora shouted, again almost jumping off his throne as he kicked his legs out in spastic shock.

"Wow, for once I agree with taking someone along," Trixie said with a smile.

"Welcome aboard Gills," Din said with a smirk.

"I am most honored to be working with you," Nayru curtsied.

"Great," Ruto said offhandedly, "now that that's out of the way, follow me and I'll show you a shortcut to the temple than taking the official waterway."

* * *

><p><strong>Water Temple<strong>

Following Princess Ruto with great haste, Link and his companions exited Zora's domain into the open waters and made it to the giant underwater doors in front of the large circular, submerged hovel in the lake. When the doors wouldn't open though, Link signaled to Din to open the large doors, which sent out a torrent of water at the group, pushing them back, but Ruto swam right through it like it was nothing. The group followed Ruto into the the large gate, which led into a cramped, tubular, dark tunnel, which eventually led out to a large circular room in front of a normal sized, bronze door.

Link and the others got out of the water and ditched the wet suits as Link put them back in his bag.

"Man you're all so slow," Ruto admonished. She had been waiting a couple of minutes after the torrent of water hit the others, which impeded their progress.

"Well, excuuuuuuse us, princess," Din shot back. "We're not exactly used to swimming through high pressure water."

"Excuses, excuses, less talk, more progress," Ruto said and put her hand on the door handle and opened it. The group rushed into the large, open room only to find that there was only a long figure standing in the room lit by glow fish hanging from ceiling lanterns. The figure stood wearing heavy black armor. Link and the others recognized him immediately.

"Knil!" Trixie exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Din growled.

"My element is darkness and what better place to go than the darkness of the water's depths."

"You sound pretty cocky for a guy whose armor I split in half with my hammer last time," Din said, whipping out said weapon and twirling it.

"I assure you," Knil said calmly, "Such a thing will never happen again. My armor has been blessed by my lord. Observe." Suddenly, Knil's armor began to crack until it disintegrated around him, revealing much thinner armor, but still metallic. Knil's gauntlets were rife with serrated plates along the back of the arms and the fingers were pointed. The chestplate he wore now had spiked pauldrons and had a fierce, blood red glow to it. Knill was also wearing a helmet which descended over the mandible area like a bird's beak and had six horn-like protrusions sticking backwards behind his head. He then pulled out a darksteel greatsword with six serrations on one side of the blade and the blade's blade being not as long on the other side—about 5/6 the length—but with nine serrations along the blade. Knil held it in front of his body at an angle.

"Big deal," Din scoffed, "We're still gonna kick your butt." She charged flame into her hammer, held it in front of her and fired the flame with intense force at Knil. "Mighty Flare!"

"Hurricane!" Trixie declared whipping out her most powerful wind spell to slam Knil with six, powerful, omnidirectional blades of air.

"Icicle Rain!" Nayru exclaimed, opening a small portal and releasing a torrent of icicles over Knil's head.

Ruto clasped her hands in front of her and then interlocked her fingers together as a ball of water began to grow larger and larger in front of her until it was the size of a small boulder. "Hydro Ball!" the ball of water went sailing at Knil as all the attacks buried him in a cloud of dust caused by the explosive force.

"Let's see him shrug that off," Din said smugly.

"Gladly," Knil returned even more smugly. The dust cleared and revealed Knil to have not even a scratch on him.

Everyone was shocked. "Ah! No way!" Din declared.

"Well, hero," Knil taunted, "Have you the courage to attack me?"

"_Courage is no match for power."_

"_You're a good swordsman kid, but I don't think you're ready to take me on yet."_

The statements of both Thalassa and Knil filled Link with determinate rage as he scowled at the dark armored warrior standing before him, equipped his enchanted iron boots, readied his sword and equipped his shield.

"Heh, very good," Knil said, took one hand off his blade and beckoned Link towards him with a single finger. "Come!"

**To be continued…**

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Yeah, sorry, gonna cut it here. It's late and I am in no mood to have Link go toe to toe with Knil at the moment. I want this battle to be epic and you guys deserve better than the lazy writing used to get us here when Link defeated Lacus. And before you all start thinking it obvious, yes Ruto is companion #5. And yes Din's comment to Ruto is what you think it is. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to go to bed. Night folks).**


End file.
